Stallion of the Line
by Vimesenthusiast
Summary: After his father's mistakes catch up to him Ranma's offered a job by Belldandy and Urd: to take on the role of heroes in other dimensions who have failed in their destinies. Sent into the One Piece Universe, his mind merges with Luffy's as a baby. What effect will a smarter, more battle-hardened Luffy with unheard of skills make in this screwed up world? Should be fun to find out!
1. Chapter 1

Ranma's Rumiko's bleep and One Piece is Oda's.

This is my One Piece/Ranma crossover story. If you haven't read about it on my profile or when I have mentioned it in my other stories end notes, it may come as a surprise. I plan to upload the first three chapters over the next few days, then update it two chapters a month until I catch up to where it is on Pat R on. That will be at the end of the Alabasta arc, which I will finish this coming month.

After that, it will join the monthly poll to see if it continues to get updated, and I will replace it on Pat R on with another Pat R on only story, or keep updating it monthly depending on a poll I put up after the next chapter over there.

This has been edited by Hiryo and myself, but I doubt we got all the little mistakes that are in it. Just hope we got the big ones LOL!

* * *

 **Prologue: New Acquaintances, Same Old Foot-in-Mouth Disease**

"Hey Saotome, you can skive off now."

Ranma looked up with dull, uninterested eyes from where he was putting the finishing touches on the wall he was working on. The rest of the house, most of which he'd built, or rather rebuilt, was almost finished too, and after only three days too. "But we're not done yet."

The foreman for this job shook his head. "All we need to do is the electrical line on the second floor and make sure the heater's working kid, we can do that." He stared down at the boy who was undoubtedly his best worker, and by a margin so wide it wasn't even funny. This would be the twentieth house Ranma had repaired in three months, all of which had been more rubble than house frankly.

The kid should have been making a fortune with his skills… "Here, it's your living allowance for the week kid." The foreman held out a small envelope containing enough yen to live on for a week if you were frugal. The rest of Ranma's money… well the foreman really didn't like to think about how Ranma had been shafted so he shook his head, smacking the pigtailed young man on his back. "We'll need to see if you can branch out away from simple houses kiddo, you're beginning to look a little bored there."

"Bored? Yeah, I guess ya could say that." Ranma looked away from the man, sighing faintly. "Thanks for the cash boss, I'll see you tomorrow."

With that Ranma turned, pulling off the hardhat and vest he'd been wearing, dropping them off in the construction zone's locker room before leaping up onto a rooftop nearby. One he'd actually built a few days ago. Behind him the foreman watched him go, shaking his head. "Poor kid."

"Bored, bored, bored!" Ranma muttered, leaping over the rooftops of Juuban district to the house the government had bought for him, the easier to keep an eye on him. "Blergh, if you had told me a year ago that I'd actually hate days where no-one attacked me or tried ta kidnap my female form or Akane or issued some weird ass challenge, I'd probably've punched you." He sighed, staring out over the nearby rooftops. "How's that old song go, 'you never know what you have until it's gone', damn if that ain't true."

It hadn't happened all at once admittedly. His life at the Tendo dojo seemed to return to somewhat to normal after the Wedding Fiasco. His rivals still came around even if Ryoga was now more of a friendly one than before, having officially hooked up with Akari. Shampoo, Cologne and Mousse were still the same, even if they had sworn off further magic tricks. Saffron's defeat had won him a lot of good will with the Amazons, even if it took a while for that to actually sink in with Shampoo and Mousse. Even Happosai had been leery of angering Ranma for a while after that, not that it lasted long.

Heck, he and Akane had been… not getting along better, but no worse either. It seemed as if Akane just wanted to forget everything since the Phoenix tribe showed up hadn't happened, good and bad, and though Ranma had been sort of angry at that, at least she was no longer blaming him for the Wedding Fiasco

Then Ukyo had backed off. It hadn't really been sudden, she had always been the least intense about chasing after him of his three so-called 'official' fiancés, and after the wedding had cooled off even further. She seemed to realize that while no one had officially won the competition yet, she wasn't going to win.

While Ukyo still liked him a lot, she had realized she never really loved him, been infatuated with sure, but Ukyo was the most, at the time his mother called it emotionally mature, of his three fiancés, and was able to move on. Ranma hadn't known what to make of it at the time, but looking back on it he simply felt she was more mature full stop than the others. _And me too if I'm honest about it._

They'd still been friends, but she and Konatsu had eventually left Nerima wanting to hunt down a rumor that there was someone else using the Kuonji Style out there. Ranma had volunteered to go with them, but Ukyo told him this was something she had to handle alone, and was only taking Konatsu along because he would've simply followed her anyway. A few months passed after that, his and Akane's relationship going up and down as normal, with more down than up if he was honest because of their continued use of insults, with Shampoo, Mousse, Kuno and even Kodachi acting as they always did.

Then the two of them had graduated from Furinkan, and Ranma hadn't been able to go on to college, not even a community college. His grades weren't abysmal, but they weren't good, and even Nabiki had run into trouble getting into a college after she graduated the year before. He hadn't thought of that as a great hardship of course having no interest in college or further classes about boring stuff he couldn't care less about.

But surprisingly Akane had gotten a full acting scholarship. She'd always been much more passionate about acting than her martial arts, and her limited martial arts skills had allowed her to act out a lot more roles than any other actress on the market.

And by that point their relationship, whatever it had been had died out. Looking back at it Ranma knew the two of them had simply gotten too much into a rut in terms of how they showed affection towards one another. The words might not have meant much at first but their simple inability to communicate like normal people, the insults on his side, the lack of trust on hers, had begun to kill off whatever spark had ever been there. Akane's decision to pursue her scholarship and leave the Tendo Dojo while Ranma was still more interested in the martial arts than anything else, had marked the official end of their relationship despite Genma and Soun's best efforts.

 _And then came the flood,_ Ranma thought sardonically, shaking his head as he thought back to that first time the Tendo Dojo's doorbell had rung. It had interrupted an argument between Akane and the two fathers that for once Ranma had successfully stayed away from. That should have been his clue something was going to go wrong, which was proven when a man dressed like a lawyer had handed Kasumi papers for Genma Saotome.

It turned out his old man hadn't just sold Ranma off to Ukyo, the Tendos, and few others, but **hundreds** of others. Worse, there were hundreds more families that had never agreed to the deal, making Genma a simple thief. There were others too, lots more debtors, all of whom had joined forces to find Genma and even gone to the government for help. Over the next few days the argument about Akane's future was forgotten as more and more of them showed up, including a government official. The total debt the government felt Genma owned: 86.66 trillion yen spread out in several different countries. And that was before interest and the other 'fiancé families' were added in.

Of course Genma had reacted predictably: he ran off. Heck even Happosai made himself scarce, unwilling to chance the government coming down on him for some reason Ranma never discovered. Cologne, after recovering from a minor heart-attack, had done the same, unwilling to let Shampoo continue her pursuit when doing so would either bankrupt her tribe or make them an enemy in not only Japan, but China and elsewhere. Soun of course did much the same, but he actually did the semi-honorable thing by cutting his losses and ending the agreement between their families. That was the last Ranma had seen of Soun or Kasumi, who had still been living at home when he was kicked out the door.

Ranma might well have run off too, if not for the government placing his mother under 'protective custody'. It had originally been an attempt to get Genma to turn himself in, but it hadn't worked. Ranma however did love his mom and he had turned himself in. The government had come up with a way to have him pay his father's debtors, and Ranma had entered the world of construction. He occasionally was called in to help the police with a martial artist type problem, but those were few and far between.

In other words, Ranma's life had escaped the original, if exciting rut, and fallen into a new one which was about as much fun for the adrenaline junkie as watching paint dry.

Ranma looked up from his musings as a small explosion occurred nearby, a surge of interest shooting through him for a moment. Then he shook his head irritably as he heard a male voice pontificating about something or other, his voice loud and manic. "Damn it, false alarm."

As Ranma continued on his way he began to make out the actual words. "But this time Sailor soldiers, there will be no salvation, my Queen will have your powers and souls, and this world will be ripe for conquest!"

"Uggh…" Ranma rolled his eyes, shaking his head and muttering "bored," under his breath Ranma made his way in that direction. He arrived just in time to watch Sailor Moon take her pose and begin her speech. Smirking slightly Ranma faded out of the background to land a kick on the back of the Negaverse general of the week, he thought it was the one called Calcite or something? Frankly they were all the same, stupid pretty boys who liked to mouth off rather than actually fight.

The kick sent the general forward over the rooftop to land face first among a group of his minions. The next second a dozen vacuum blades accompanied by several of the Sailor Scouts attacks shredded the small group of Negative animals or whatever they were called, thought the general was able to get out of the way by rolling and diving wildly. That was until Ranma leaped down, landing on top of the general's head smashing him into the concrete.

Still standing on the back of the general's head, Ranma shook his own. "Man, when will you lot learn? You lot should know when I'm around by this point, it ain't like my schedules a big mystery. Didn't the lesson I gave the last guy, what's his name Benzite or something, take? I'd have thought having his own sword's hilt shoved down his throat would've given you lot the clue."

He turned, waving his hand at the girls. "Hi Pluto, hi Jupiter, er, hey girls."

"Hi Ranma," the two women addressed by name said in very different tones, while the others simply waved or glared.

Pluto was a tall what his mother would call statuesque woman with long green hair and darkly tanned skin. She was the oldest of the Sailor Scouts by a considerable margin, and the most professional of them in Ranma's opinion. Jupiter on the other hand Ranma had actually trained at one point after his life in Nerima collapse the girl having looked him up after he'd stepped in to stop an attack on one of the malls in the area by a negaverse monster. She'd gotten a lot better under his tutelage since then.

The others Ranma wasn't nearly so friendly with because three of them, Moon, Mars and Mercury, were among the girls who his father had promised his hand to in their normal lives. Calling him a two-timing womanizer, Rei had attacked him upon meeting him and then turned around and practically demanded Ranma teach her martial arts in recompense.

That he wouldn't until she got her temper under control was a major bone between them. After all, an angry girl was one thing, an angry girl with the power to control fire and an inclination to attack first ask questions never was another. Rei also refused to sign up with the rest of the debtors, adding that compensation to the total amount, which was another source of his irritation with her.

Amis family had added the amount they were owed to the list, she simply didn't want anything to do with him after learning about the debt. She also found him uncouth and rather offensive at times, but that could be put down to how easily he warped what she thought of as scientific laws rather than anything personal.

Moon's family, had been among the first to add their debt to the pile rather than continue to pursue Ranma himself helped by the age difference and the fact Usagi had a secret boyfriend already. She didn't like him for an entirely different reason and possibly the most understandable of the three.

Ranma smirked at Sailor Moon shaking his head. "What've I told ya about making speeches?"

The odangoed blonde pouted, but when she noticed his fingers twitching quickly grabbed her hair protectively then recited quickly "'don't make them unless it's over the smoking bodies of your enemies!' Please don't dye my hair again you meanie!"

"Good girl," Ranma murmured, winking at Pluto who chuckled quietly shaking her head. Even the other two Outer Scouts, neither of whom liked Ranma all that much (at least not this male body) chuckled at that. "I'd ask what was going on, and what my footstool's scheme was, but frankly I can't be bothered. Can you lot at least try to keep the fights to a minimum around here? I just finished a job cleaning up after the last of your fights as it is."

The girls all looked abashed at that and Ranma chuckled, deliberately not looking in Jupiter's direction. Makoto was tall for her age, almost meeting Ranma's height in his male body, and very… well-grown. Besides her body Makoto was also the kind of girl he wouldn't mind getting to know better, but her age and his negative relationships with her teammates, plus the fact he could tell Venus also seemed interested in him, meant he wouldn't even try to get closer to her, no matter how interested she night be.

 _After all, I'm 20 now, and she's just past sixteen. There's an ugly word for people who date minors. Especially ones who haven't actually developed yet, speaking of which…_ Ranma quickly knelt, grabbing up a piece of rubble and hurling it to the side and up towards a nearby chimney. A loud 'bonk' followed by a cry of pain followed, and a tuxedo-clad man in a mask fell out his hiding place behind the chimney, nearly skidding off the tilted roof before righting himself. "If you're just gonna act like a stalker stay home Tux-pedo!"

While the Outers and Jupiter began to laugh, Mars, Venus, Mercury and Moon scowled at Ranma before making their way toward the bruised Tuxedo Kamen. Ranma would've continued teasing the girls, it was one of the funnier things he was allowed these days, but his stomach chose that moment to rumble and he sighed. "Mom's expecting me home so I'm gonna head off, you lot clean up after yourselves or else!"

With that Ranma turned away, shuddering slightly as he saw a smirk on Pluto's face. That kind of smirk told Ranma the wearer knew something he didn't, and giving his life to date having someone around that worried him.

The house the government allowed Ranma and, occasionally his mom to stay in was a very small one-story house without even a yard to call its own except a small one at the back where his mother was attempting to grow herbs. It wasn't much, and most of the time it was a pretty lonely place, but at least today his mom would be there tonight.

Ranma opened the door, calling out, "I'm home."

Nodoka replied from the kitchen. "Dinner is almost ready Ranma, why don't you go up and take a shower, then set out some plates for us".

Ranma answered in the affirmative, heading up to take a shower, washing himself first with cold water, checking herself in the mirror as she did so before hopping into the shower. Ranma's female form hadn't gained any height, which he always though was weird since his male form had. He was now as tall as Kuno had been the last time that moron had shown up, his shoulders almost as broad too. But the only change on his female body had been her face had thinned a little, and her chest had grown somewhat.

Sighing she stepped into the shower, letting the water transform his body once more, cracking his neck and shoulders. After a shower he went to his room calling out to his mom, "I saw the Sailor Scouts out again just so you know, your minders might be late."

Making no comment on that last, Nodoka addressed his mentioning Pluto and company. "Oh that's nice, did you take my advice and ask Jupiter-chan out? Four years difference isn't that much, and she likes you, anyone can tell."

"Mom!" Ranma groaned. "She's pretty, but four years is a big difference to me, and besides, I taught her martial arts! There are strict rules about master/student relationships."

"Yes, in the old days it was assumed the master would teach the student more than martial arts." Nodoka replied. "And she's not your student **now** , is she?"

Ranma groaned even louder this time, shaking his head. _Gah, mom always does this every time she's allowed to visit, but what kind of girl'd be willing to go out with a guy who's got Genma's debt's hanging over our heads? Thank god that's all she's doing, not pushing for grandbabies anymore._

Despite the debt and Ranma being so busy trying to pay it off, Nodoka was of the opinion he had to enjoy life and getting a girlfriend was part of that. Ranma could even understand her point, he just couldn't work up enough interest to go out in search of one, and he really did think that Makoto was too young. Setsuna might have been a better bet, but she saw **him** as too young. And going out partying simply to meet people just did not appeal at all.

As he exited the bathroom, the phone rang, and Ranma scowled, while in the kitchen Nodoka sighed. "Could you get that Ranma?"

Ranma nodded, grabbing up the one phone in the house, fully expecting it to be one of the government minders who routinely drove Nodoka to and from her safe house and Ranma's for these little weekly visits. _I suppose after my old man showed up and tried to get her out it that first month after the debtors showed up it makes sense, but damn it, it's been months now, can't they just let her live me and watch her here? Assholes._

Ranma opened his mouth to give the man on the other end an earful but before he could speak, the person on the other line spoke. And instead of a man's voice it was a woman's voice, a deep, sultry voice with an odd accent. "Hello, this is the Goddess helpline, your representative goddess will be there in a moment to fill your wish. Please stay on the line big boy."

Ranma blinked, then pulled the phone away from his ear to look at it strangely, then out the door towards the kitchen. _If this is one of my mom's ideas to teach me about women, it's a bit more elaborate than the last one._ That had consisted of tricking Ranma into entering a brothel which one of her old friends owned (and no Ranma did not want to think about how his mom knew a madam) to deal with a supposed ghost sighting. Ranma didn't think he had broken the sound barrier as he escaped, but it had been a close call and he knew he'd needed a blood transfusion afterwards.

"Hey, um, mo…" Ranma trailed off as his eyes caught sight of the mirror over the small dresser, out of which a silver haired, dusky woman was slowly pulling herself out of grumbling all the while.

"What the in the name of Father is up with this area? Why the hells does every teleportation spell go wonky here? Also, geeze kiddo, you need to get a bigger mirror." She grunted waving her hand all along the mirror's edge, and suddenly the small mirror was twice again its size. "Oh, that worked!? Meh, not going to complain."

Before she could complete the process however Ranma was in front of her, pushing her head back in. "Yeah, no. I don't want whatever quest or task or whatever yer selling witch lady, back you go!"

The girl gasped, then tried to fight him off with one hand, the other holding onto the mirror's edge. "Hey, wait, I'm not a, gah, just, I'm not…! Screw it, Supreme Lightning Blast!"

Ranma jerked back, but a bolt of lightning appeared midair behind the woman, flashing forward to slam into his shoulder, hurling him backward. It didn't hurt much, he'd taken ki blasts from Herb and others that hurt a lot more, but before he could regain his feet, the woman in the mirror had pulled herself out, hopping to the floor.

In the kitchen Nodoka heard the sound of combat then smiled as the sound of lightning reached her. _It seems as if Makoto-chan has decided to take matters into her own hands, good for her!_ She turned back to her work a small smile still on her face.

She was dressed in a white one piece dress that, while covering everything adequately, also put everything on display in a way that would have made Ranma blush under more normal circumstances. Now however his pulse was pounding, and he was feeling excitement for the first time in months so he could care less what she looked like.

She seemed to take a deep breath, possibly reining in her temper, before throwing her hair back like a runaway model. "Hello Ranma Saotome, I'm here to make your dreams come true."

"What kind of dreams you think I've got that a magical hooker like you could make 'em come true?" Ranma growled, coming up out of his crouch into a rising kick aimed at the woman's face.

"What'd you cAAA!" The woman yelped as she ducked backwards, her eyes widening in surprise right before a punch caught her in the chest hurling her back into the dresser. "Oh, that's it punk!"

Lightning arced from her fingers for a moment, but Ranma didn't let her set herself for whatever spell she was trying to use. He was in her face, feet and hands flashing far faster than a normal human could follow. Ranma had perfected the Amiguriken technique to a level even Cologne had never seen before.

The woman grunted a few times, then her own hands began to flash, nearly matching Ranma's speed. A kick lashed out, trying to catch Ranma on the thigh, but he jumped over it, remaining in the air and kicking out himself, nearly taking her head off. "CRa, damn it kid!"

"If you're tired you can go back to your old folk's home lady, I could do this all day!" Ranma laughed, enjoying himself for the first time in a long while. The woman had next to no technique, but her strength and speed were beyond anything he had dealt with before, indeed it seemed as if she was getting faster as the fight went on.

"OLD!? Okay mortal, if you want a beat down you've got it!" the woman growled, her hand flashing out and grabbing Ranma's arm with one of her own faster than he could dodge. Her other hand shot out, a right hook smashing into Ranma's jaw. But Ranma retaliated, a series of kicks to the chest that sent the woman down the hallway.

Before the woman could set herself again Ranma was in her, a punch smashing into her face and throwing her sideways out the window. "Let's take this outside old lady!"

Inside the house Nodoka frowned, having heard that shout. "Hmm… perhaps Setsuna instead? I do hope they don't use all their energy arguing, they won't have any energy left after he finally gives in… oh my."

The Kasumi impersonation was caused by the water in front of her suddenly glowing white, then showing the face of a remarkably pretty young woman. She had light brown hair, pale white skin, a pretty smile, and several odd marks on her cheek and forehead, which reminded Nodoka of those strange red dots she had seen Indian women wear in movies.

Cocking her head thoughtfully Nodoka stepped back slightly as the girl actually pushed her head out of the water. "Would you like some help dear?"

"Oh, yes please, I'm sorry to bother you." The young woman replied politely. "Transportation spells don't seem to work appropriately here in Juuban. They are supposed to teleport me through the medium not actually inside it. And I was supposed to appear in a mirror…"

Nodoka quickly moved forward, taking the girls outstretched hand and helping her pull herself out of the water, noting absently that the girl didn't feel wet to the touch. Seconds later the woman, clad in an elaborate white and blue dress with gold sewing here and there, stood in the kitchen. "Now, may I ask who you are, and why you're here?"

"My name is Belldandy Nodoka-san, and I am afraid here to help my older sister on an assignment of hers. She was supposed to talk to Ranma-san, but apparently their meeting turned poorly."

"Ah, in that case you'll find your sister outside with Ranma." Nodoka replied, shaking her head and finally realizing her assumptions had been off for a while, but still somewhat upbeat. "Why don't you go and get them, and I'll finish setting out the food. We can sit down and talk about whatever two beautiful magical girls need my son for."

"That sound's lovely Nodoka-San." Belldandy replied, then waved one hand over the food for a moment, doubling the amount of food available. "But we're not magical girls, though I can see why you made that assumption, we're goddesses."

Outside the fight was still going on. "Father damn it stop with the old lady thing, I'm not even past thirty in human years!" The woman replied to another quip about her age, still trying to get some distance between them. Arcs of lightning and wind flew from her fingers, none of them powerful because she couldn't' concentrate enough to build them up, but fast.

"Sure as hell don't look it with that skin of yours. Whatsamatter, ya spend too much time in the tanning salon Yankee?" Ranma quipped, dodging around her attacks, trying to keep the fight up close and personal. It was obvious the woman was a long range fighter, and given that first blast Ranma didn't want to see what else she could do.

"My skin's naturally this way, and I'll have you know mortals would kill to look this good! You just don't know the first thing about women little boy, or should that be little girl given your curse?" The woman smirked seeing that hit home and continued quickly, completely forgetting for a moment why she was here in the first place. Ranma wasn't the only one that had a thing for adrenaline.

The two continued to dance around one another, neither able to land a blow for now. She could fly and dodge faster than any mortal, while Ranma was about as in home in the air as a bird, and twice as agile. "That's right little boy, I know all about your curse. But given how often it's helped you, and how much fun you've had with it, I wonder did you fall into that pool deliberately?"

"You don't know what you're talking about lady," Ranma said, his voice devoid of any humor, and suddenly a punch which should have gone towards the woman's chest found her chin instead, hitting hard enough to make her see stars. "Demon hooker or whatever the hell you are you got no idea about what I've been through!"

"You'd be surprised, little boy!" The girl grunted, then lashed out, a full wind shot curled up in her palm, releasing as she struck Ranma's shoulder, hurling him away and down. A blue-white ki blast however came back at her smashing her face and leaving it smoking for a moment before she waved her hand around, dispelling the smoke to glare, uninjured, at Ranma. "Was that supposed to hurt little boy?"

The two of them were interrupted at that point by another female voice shouting, "Urd, stop that at once! You were supposed to talk to him, not fight him."

Ranma turned and nearly gaped at another girl, who was simply beautiful. Oh, Ranma wasn't immune to the fact the girl he'd been fighting, Urd, was gorgeous, but this girl's beauty was a softer, less aggressive sort. And she hadn't appeared magically, at least not in front of him that was a plus.

"You didn't hear what he called me Bell! Besides he was the one who stopped me from coming through the mirror before even hearing what I had to say!"

"Given his life up to this point you can hardly blame him sister." Belldandy replied, frowning at her.

Urd still glared at Ranma, but she visibly calmed herself under her sister's glare. "Fine, I'll let it go so long as he apologizes for what he called me."

Belldandy nodded before turning the same look on Ranma. Like Urd, Ranma caved quickly, and turned slightly bowing his head toward Urd. "I'm sorry I called you an old demon hooker."

"That **really** didn't sound like you meant it." Urd growled, lightning sparking from her fingers.

"Sister, this is going to be a tough enough conversation as it is without your temper." Belldandy said, moving forward to touch her sister gently on the shoulder. "You read his file, you know why Ranma is almost completely unable to stop himself from mouthing off like that."

"I did, and I thought I was ready for it. You really do know how to get under people's skins don't you?" Urd growled, but she calmed down even more actually leaning against Belldandy for a moment.

Ranma pulled at his pigtail self-consciously. By this point the adrenaline was gone, and he was really feeling stupid now under Belldandy's eyes. "All right, I am really sorry. My mouth does tend to get away from me sometimes, and, well you showing up like that, it was the first exciting thing that's happened in months, and I just didn't want it to end."

"There see everything's settled now." Belldandy said smiling lightly. "Now, come back inside, both of you. How far did my sister get in explaining why she was here Ranma?" she asked.

"Not very," he said sheepishly. "She said she was here to make my dreams come true and things sort of went downhill from there." Belldandy blinked, and Urd nodded just as sheepishly as Ranma did. "I did say I was sorry."

Belldandy sighed, then gestured her older sister to start speaking. "Okay kid," she said, glaring for a moment at Ranma as they entered his house once more before shaking her anger away again. "We're goddesses okay? Lightning bolts, flying, spellcasting, teleportation, the whole nine yards. And yes before you say anything, I know you've met up with the Sailor Scouts, and I know they can do some of those things, but **not** on the scale we can. Do you want Tokyo to be destroyed? We could do that, do you want China sunk into the sea? We'd prefer not to, but we could do that too. That's the kind power we're talking about here, okay?"

"Okay, say I believe you are goddesses, why are you here, and what was up with the weird-ass phone number?" Ranma asked, sitting down at the dining table.

"We gods and our counterparts demons run, call them help lines. Random souls, pure souls for us, corrupted souls for them, are chosen at times to be given wishes, which we will grant for them in order to create more belief, which in turn feeds the systems we gods take our energy from."

"Okay, I'm going to have to stop you again right there." Ranma glanced a little guiltily at his mom, who laughed at him, and Belldandy, who smiled warmly at him, before he went on. "Er, I, I'm not exactly a 'pure soul', so why the heck am I being given it wish?"

"You're not, not really," Urd said shaking her head. "Here's where it gets kind of complicated, and why I was sent personally. I'm not one of the regulars assigned to the helpline kid, I'm a system administrator, so this kind of grunt work is usually well below my area of expertise."

She exchanged a look with her sister, and Belldandy thankfully took up the tale from there. "Ranma, did you ever wonder why your life was so chaotic, so strange in comparison to the norm?"

"I figured my old man was an idiot and pissed off some deity somewhere." Ranma said bluntly, shaking his head.

"That… is actually rather close to what actually occurred." Belldandy replied, her smile twitching as a sweatdrop appeared on both her and her sister. "You see, one of your ancestors was cursed to live in 'interesting times', as the Chinese say, and that passes randomly down your line. Most of the time that sort of thing fades, but several of the chaos gods decided to continue using your line as Chaotic Loci, for, I'm afraid it must be said, mostly their own enjoyment rather than any defensible reason."

Nodoka and Ranma exchanged a glance then said as one, "That makes sense."

Belldandy blinked oddly disturbed at how easily they believed her. But Urd, who had read Ranma's entire file unlike her sister, laughed and took up the tale again. "So most of the things you've done in your life good or bad can be traced back to that curse, except for one thing: stopping Saffron. That, well….I don't know how much you know about his resurrection process, but each time he's resurrected, there's a chance that he'll go off the deep end. This last time he was going to, if slowly."

The two goddesses sighed in unison, sharing a glance. "Saffron was actually a god at one point, not very powerful as deities go, but still, he could have done incalculable harm if he wasn't stopped, and we and our opposite number couldn't have done anything unless someone wished for it, we're forbidden from interacting with the human world otherwise." Belldandy said.

"But you stopped him, you stopped him when you shouldn't have been able to, which not only pissed off a lot of chaos gods who were betting against you, but also won you a lot of good will from other gods and even demons too. We can't offer you an actual wish because like you said you're not exactly a pure soul, or even all that good, don't bother to deny it kiddo. You're too self-serving, arrogant and combative for that." Urd said, shaking her head.

"And the other side can't offer me anything 'cause I ain't exactly bad either." Ranma said nodding her head. "I get it, hell I agree with it. So what **are** you offering?"

"That's what took us so long after Saffron's death to figure out. Our Father had to discuss this with his alternate number hence why my sister was sent, as she hinted earlier." Belldandy replied delicately looking at her older sister and squeezing her hand.

Urd scowled but squeezed Belldandy's hand back before turning to Ranma again. "Basically, we've come up with an idea to give you the one thing you want in your life most of all, and to also make use of your unique talents, killing two birds with one stone as it were, or if things work out, lots of birds with one stone."

Ranma leaned back, staring up at the ceiling as he thought about what he really wanted out of life. There were lots of little things, setting up his mom for life, paying off the fucking debt, continuing to get better in the art, finding Genma and turning him into a rug… But those were all small things.

The big thing really didn't take all that time to think about, but the implication was one he wasn't certain he liked. "…Excitement. The thing I most want out of life is excitement, but how exactly are you going to go about giving that to me? I don't want ta get involved in any kind of religious quarrel between your two sides or anything like that. If I wanted to get in involved in a battle between the so-called good guys and the dark side, I'd be more involved with the Sailor Scouts regardless of five of them not liking me."

"First of all, part of what we're offering you taking care of the problems Genma foisted off you. This includes paying off the families that have gone to the government, and finding ways to deal with girls who are still after you for various reasons, including Mars."

"Before you ask, beyond what's already come up there isn't anything major, the biggest is…" Urd paused, then pulled out a large scroll from her hidden weapons space or Ranma supposed it was anyway, he'd never thought of putting one 'her' cleavage. She read the scroll for a moment then put it back smirking as she noticed Ranma looking away with a blush. "The biggest problem he left behind is a series of stolen scrolls which have ended up in different people's hands, and that Ryu character. We can shut all that down with a bit of leg work."

"As for what we're offering you personally, that takes some more explanation. You see, while my sister and I can only appear on this world, our… organization… oversees several other dimensions, all of them very, very different, and most of them none of us can appear in personally, this world's actually quite odd in that way. In those dimensions there are chosen heroes, people who are supposed to clean up the universe or do things in such a way as to keep the universe and its people, generally speaking, happy and moving on their way. Sometimes however those people fail."

"What we would ask you or to do would be to become a sort of interdimensional troubleshooter. In essence, your spirit would be sent into other universes in order to take over the bodies of the heroes who have failed sometime before they began their journey. You would remain there until your chosen task is done."

"What exactly would these chosen tasks be?" Ranma asked frowning thoughtfully. He liked the idea of exploring new worlds, he always liked traveling and exploration, and the idea of new challenges was really interesting to him. There was also the fact that if his spirit was sent, that meant his body, with its incumbent curse, would stay here. But he wanted to make sure there weren't any hidden dangers or costs here. "I'm not a war leader, or a scientist or anything like that."

"The tasks will vary wildly. In one dimension I know about you would have to grow strong enough to fight a primordial God before your eighteenth year. In another, you have to find a certain item which can upset the balance of power in the world before several dozen different villains can." Belldandy frowned, shaking her head sadly as she thought of that particular universe.

Something about seeing the beautiful woman frown had almost as much impact on Ranma as a Kasumi Frown™. Something was seriously wrong in that universe.

"How you go about that would be up to you, though since you'd be inhabiting the chosen hero's body many of the events that happened to him would still happen to you, to keep you on the path the hero was supposed to move on. But your own personal choices would be honored of course. Free will is a gift from our Father after all, and nothing can take it away from humanity." Urd said.

"That actually makes me really happy, that even if destiny exists so does free will." Ranma said honestly smiling at her, and Belldandy's frown turned upside down, smiling back at Ranma whose own smile widened slightly as they looked at one another.

After a moment Ranma looked away blushing lightly. The girl was beautiful after all. "But why me? I can't imagine I'm the first person to meet these requirements of yours."

"Actually you are…" Urd replied, shaking her head. "Oh, there've been others who have beaten their destinies, but all of them had certain cheats. Powers they'd gained over their lives outside of the norm, non-human bloodlines, magical items, simple magic, that kind of thing."

Belldandy spoke up in turn, still smiling sweetly at Ranma. "But you're not like that, Ranma, you've pushed beyond the human norm through sheer exertion and willpower. You've become a ki master at an age where most martial artists wouldn't even know what the term meant yet."

"I have to give my old man some of the credit for that," Ranma said shaking his head. "Say what you would about the man, and most of it'd be true, but he was one hell of a trainer."

"Because he kept on pushing you beyond anything you should've been able to, the fact you survived is due to your spirit Ranma, not him." Urd said tartly, shaking her head. She'd seen some of the training Ranma had done when younger, and to call them child abuse was far too tame a term. "But that's neither here nor there. And besides your being purely human what sets you apart from anyone else is your mind: your mental flexibility and ability to adapt, to analyze your enemies' combat styles and overcome them makes you well suited to this task."

Ranma looked over at his mom. "What about my mom? I don't want to leave her all alone."

The two goddesses also looked at Nodoka, who smiled faintly. But doing so emphasized the lines on her face, lines that hadn't been there a year ago, just like the gray in her hair. The expression was at once loving yet sad. "Ranma, can you honestly say that you're happy your life right now? I've seen you growing more and more despondent as the weeks go by, you crave excitement like an alcoholic craves drink, by the time you've paid off Genma's debt, if you ever do considering he's still out there causing trouble, your spirit will never recover."

Nodoka shook her head. "What kind of parent would I be if I was willing to let my child pay for the mistakes of his sperm donor?" Belldandy blushed faintly at that while Ranma choked and Urd laughed. "So while I am happy that you're thinking about me, I'm not going to stand in the way of your happiness. Go, agree to this agreement, and I think you will find more excitement than even you can handle."

After staring at his mom for a moment trying to see if she was lying or not, Ranma nodded slowly, turning back to Urd and Belldandy, excitement rising within him once more as he struggled to keep a grin off his face. "I'll agree to the deal if after I'm done in one universe I can take what I learned from it in terms of techniques to the next. Growing strong in the art is one of my greatest motivations, and that is nonnegotiable."

The two goddesses seemed to freeze for a moment, their hands locked together on the table in front of Ranma. A white light appeared, shooting up to disappear harmlessly through the ceiling. Ranma leaped away from the table, jumping outside to stare up into the sky as the beam continued up, not seemingly having any physical form but definitely still there in some way that Ranma couldn't understand.

He was sitting back down at the table by the time the two goddesses shook off whatever the heck had happened there. "The higher-ups agreed to that, so long as the techniques are not physical enhancements but actual mental or martial techniques that you can train your new body in when you transfer from one dimension to another." Belldandy said, smiling faintly.

At the sight of that smile Ranma shook his head lightly before nodding."So what I have to do to make this official?"

The light appeared again and Urd reached across the table, holding out her hand. "Take my hand," she said in a mechanical tone of voice. "Then wilt the agreement be sealed."

After hesitating for a moment Ranma did so, then froze in shock as something left his body. It wasn't painful, not really, but it felt like he was entire being, his soul and mind, were being weighed and analyzed somehow, Ranma didn't really have the words for it.

He shuddered and leaned back abruptly when Urd let his hand go, still speaking in that odd, mechanical yet powerful voice. "So it is agreed!"

A moment later she shook her head, leaning over against her sister, shaking her head groggily. "OOwee, that was more exhausting than I expected," the silver-haired woman murmured shaking her head slowly.

For a moment all four of them were silent, even Nodoka, shocked by what she had just seen. Then Ranma began to recover, eating the food still lying uneaten on the table in front of them, hungry beyond all reason for a moment. Urd joined in quickly, swigging down a shot of sake between each bite, recovering slowly from whatever the heck had just happened. Even Belldandy was looking a little drained from her part in it.

"Okay," Urd said shaking her head at last, setting down her sake bottle with a thump. "Like my sister said that was a bit more power intensive than we'd expected, but this was the first time either of us have been assigned anything to do with interdimensional missions. Anyway, the first universe you'll be sent into is known as the One Piece universe. The so-called chosen hero here failed miserably, despite attempts to change things locally."

Beside her Belldandy gestured speaking a few lines in that strange other tongue of theirs, and an image of the world popped into being in the middle of the table rotating slowly.

Ranma looked at it closely, noting that it was a world dominated by oceans, with no real continent to speak of except for one which seems to encircle the entire world on its equator. There was a series of numerous small islands that marked it the other way around, separating the world into fourths, with hundreds of dotted islands scattered everywhere. "Weird geography."

"Trust me, that isn't the only weird thing about it. We can't tell you everything about it of course, you'll have to learn as you go along and like I said your ability to learn was part of why you were chosen for this. So all we can tell you is that this world has some very weird geography, even the world's magnetic field is messed up in this area, which is called the Grand Line," Urd said, tapping the line of islands, her finger disappearing into the image. "Each island in this area has a varying magnetic field. Other than the geography, physics works like you're used to, and humans are pretty much the same, except for one thing, Devil Fruits."

Belldandy took up the tale, letting Urd drink some more sake for a second. "Devil Fruits are essentially fruit sized bits of chaotic energy, the very energy which can form gods or demons in sufficient amounts. As fruits however the power is contained warped somewhat to produce a single effect on the person who ate it. That effect varies wildly, from a full body change to another type of matter, say stone or steel, or even the ability to turn into specific forms of elemental energy at will."

"So wait, just eating these things can give their owners power ups? And there's no real limitation to what they can do?"

"There is no such thing as a fruit which gives purely mental powers, and they are broken down into types, but generally speaking no there is no real limitation except for the fact that all Devil fruit users cannot abide the touch of water in any form. If a person eats the devil fruit they can no longer swim."

Ranma frowned for a moment. "Wait, so you get these powers by eating a devil fruit right? But what happens if you don't eat the entire fruit? Do you get a weaker version of the power, no power at all, or what?"

The two goddesses looked blank for a moment staring at one another than back and Ranma before shrugging incomprehension. "No idea." Urd replied.

"Right, moving on." Ranma shook his head. "Why this universe? You said that the chosen hero failed miserably, so I'd be merged with him very early on, but can you tell me why he failed."

"Most of the time we won't be able to but in this case, the original Luffy is dumb as a post and twice as thick." Urd said bluntly while her sister looked rather pained but didn't disagree, which given her nature was telling. "Our Father's agents, even our opposite numbers have tried time and time again to change random events in his favor, ranging from small to large. But his general lack of intelligence and attention span, physical things we can't effect for various reasons you wouldn't understand and I'm authorized to tell you always remains the same."

"And his lack of intelligence and stubbornness kept on getting him into problems that he simply can't power his way through physically," Belldandy sighed, looking so dejected Ranma had to fight the urge to give her a hug or something to cheer her up. "He still overcame many problems in that manner, but eventually his tendency to charge forward always overcomes his ability to survive. His adaptability in combat was amazing and often covered for his general lack of intelligence and worldly knowledge, but he simply couldn't understand the need to train himself all the time. Even when he was shown how weak he was in relation to the real world powers, he didn't train long enough."

"Like my sister said, he was still able to overcome a lot of the problem in his way, Luffy's stupidity was only matched by his strength of will, but that was unable to really breach the difference in strength between him and the enemies he has to face." Urd said, shaking her head.

Belldandy took up the tale again, shaking her head. "You have to understand that he was essentially someone your own age or younger, facing against 40-year-olds who unlike your own father who had in your own parlance taken their training seriously from the start. Picture a Happosai who hadn't given himself entirely over to hedonism for example but trained seriously his entire life faced against someone like we have described."

Ranma shivered at the thought but nodded his head. "Okay I can understand that. So how young am I going to be when I merge with this Luffy guy?"

"You'll see," Urd said smirking evilly. "We're not going to tell you everything after all, where would the fun in that be?"

Ranma groaned but nodded. "Fine, so how do we do this?"

"If you're ready to go, we can do it now. Just step over in front of the TV." Belldandy replied.

Sharing a glance with his mother, Ranma hesitated a final moment then nodded decisively. "Best to get it over with now after all." Frankly it was all Ranma could do to sit still, excitement building at the thought of facing a whole new world. Only the fact he'd be leaving his mother behind put a damper on it.

He reached over, pulling his mother into a hug, holding it for a moment, before pulling back. "I, mom I'm sorry it all turned out like this, I just, I hope you can be happy after this?" He finished rather lamely, still unused to talking about emotions or soft squishy things like that.

"Oh Ranma," Nodoka said, chuckling as she held her son for what might be the last time. "I'll miss you too my dear. But mothers have always faced their children leaving home, and I know how unhappy you have been of late. Belldandy and Urd-san have made an excellent agreement with us, I'll be fine here. Besides that, I think this is something you need to do. Go, find the excitement you crave, make me proud."

The two stood together for a moment then Ranma moved away, moving to stand in front of the TV.

Belldandy and Urd moved around the table to stand to either side of Ranma and began to intone something in that odd, musical yet mechanical language of theirs. Lines of glowing script which looked like a cross between musical notes and some kind of ancient language appeared on the ground and in the air swirling around Ranma as he stood there.

Staring at the magic all around him Ranma began to have cold feet. _I wonder if it's too late to back out… probably. Oh well, I signed on for this, let's see where it takes me._ The magic chose that moment to escalate, glowing ever brighter, and suddenly between one second and the next Ranma was gone his body disappearing as his soul was transported elsewhere.

 **OOOOOOO**

"…sister…" Belldandy said softly staring hard at her older sister. "I detected a bit of a change there from the spell we were supposes to use, something you sent along with Ranma… May I ask why?"

"Oh trust me Bell, Ranma will thank me eventually." _Figuring out how to get him cursed again was hard, but rewarding heh. That's what he gets for calling me a hooker._

 **OOOOOOO**

Everything was disjointed, that was the first thing Ranma realized and thinking was **really** hard! He couldn't connect the words couldn't think clearly, couldn't even use his senses very well. Eventually he was able to construct the thought, _Urd and Belldandy said I'd be sent back a long ways…_ the instant that thought finished fear gripped Ranma, a sharp thought going across his mind. _Oh please don't let me be a baby! I don't think I could handle breast-feeding._

Luckily once he was able to actually concentrate on his senses Ranma couldn't hear any female voices. That came as something of a relief. Sure, the idea of getting to know his 'new mom' might be nice, but the whole breast-feeding thing…

The voices all around him sounded rather panicked. It took several moments for that to sink in, but Ranma wasn't in a position to do anything about it of course, hell it was all he could do to concentrate on his hearing and making his thoughts actually makes sense for brief moments.

Eventually he was able to concentrate enough to actually understand the words being spoken around. "When I left my son and, you'll note I said **son** with you, Luffy was, again, my **son**!" Said a deep baritone voice, its concise tone brimming with anger. "Would you care to explain to me why that is no longer the case?"

"I don't know what's going on, Dragon!" said another voice, one that sounded much higher pithed but not quite female in tone. "I was just trying out my powers as normal. Some of your men passed by with a mirror, my beam hit it and bounced into your son's room. No problem, I would just turn Luffy back. Then today, when the nurse was giving him a bath, he changed gender! I don't know why!"

The one called dragon growled something back, and Ranma found himself being picked up and looked at by a middle-aged man with short black hair, intense eyes and a strange tattoo on one side of his face. But that didn't matter to Ranma right now, right now he was using all his considerable willpower to concentrate on thinking about what he'd just heard.

" _What, no, but the curse was on my body not, oh you've gotta be… that goddess, damn you URD!_ The laughter of the crazy goddess rang in his ears, and that was the last coherent thought Ranma had for a long while.

 **OOOOOOO**

Months passed, while Ranma got used to his new circumstances as much as he could. Though he didn't really want to thank the two goddesses for anything at this point, his new body was now that of a two-year-old toddler, which put him beyond the nursing stage. On the other side of the scale, just as Ranma had feared from that first conversation he still had his curse. Ranma vowed that he and Urd would have words about that in the future.

It continually surprised Ranma how much trouble he had controlling his new body. Ranma had never realized it but the minds grew physically as they did mentally: A baby's mind simply couldn't handle an adult's ability to think. HIs attention span for example was simply horrible. He was also constantly hungry of shitting, which irritated Ranma no end.

Nonetheless, Ranma, or Luffy as he was now known was able to push his little body far than a toddler should be able to, his coordination and general physical skills simply better than a toddler's should be thanks to the memories of being Ranma.

Luckily the tattooed person who was apparently his father in this dimension didn't seem to notice. And Ranma made certain that his ability to understand the conversations around him was a secret. He learned a bit of information about Dragon and his budding Revolutionary Army this way, as well as what they were fighting against, though not as much about either ads he would have liked.

This was why he overheard the discussion between Dragon and an older man that he called father. "I can't keep him with me, he would be in constant danger, better to hide him away with you father."

Ranma's hearing was able to make out the older man grumbled something about not being a nursing service, and his father replied. "Whatever the blood you passed on to him Garp, you know he will still be hated for sharing mine. That is how the World government works, or did the Baterilla Massacre teach you nothing?"

"You know I'll raise him to be a strong Marine right!?" The man apparently named Garp replied after a moment. He was taller than dragon by at least a foot, and Dragon wasn't a short man by any means. He was also wider, looking like an adult Lime perhaps, but for all his bulk he moved lightly on his feet, and his craggy face, marked by a scar on one check and topped with black hair slowly going gray, showed some actual affection for Dragon as well as the toddler in his arms.

"I know you'll try," Dragon replied, laughing quietly. "One thing the UN the world government have never really understood is the concept of free will however, which is prevalent in every man large or small, young or old."

The older gentleman frowned lightly at that, though what part of that statement made him frown was beyond Ranma, but nodded slowly. "Alright I'll take him, but I swear at least one of these ran children of mine are going to become Marines! And if I ever see you again son, I'll do my duty, you know that."

"I know you are an honorable man father, it is just a pity your masters are not worth your loyalty." Dragon replied, actually smiling as he handed Ranma/Luffy over to the older man. "Oh, I should warn you about something about young Luffy. We still don't know how or why, but you know my subordinate Ivankov?"

"The really disturbing one with the blue hair and huge face?" Garp grumbled. Yeah, what about him?"

Dragon explained the cruse, showing it to Garp much to his son/daughter's vocal displeasure, and Garp gaped at him then the toddler for a moment before shaking his head. "I might just hunt Ivankov down for this, though I've never heard of an effect like that becoming permanent either, and certainly not changing with water, weird, I might ask Vegapunk how such a thing is possible at all. I trust you dealt with him?"

"In my own way yes." Dragon chuckled, then sober, reaching out to grasp his father's wide shoulders staring into the older man's face for a moment. Both men fell silent, knowing this would be the last time they would meet without being enemies. "Be well father."

Garp scowled again breaking the younger man's grip and raising a fist nearly the size of the toddler, once more a boy and silent, now cradled against his chest. "Get out of here Dragon before I try to arrest you right now!"

Dragon laughed and between one second and the next disappeared. Ranma blinked, his little toddler face scrunching into a frown. His apparent grandfather noticed this, and raise him in the air, making those idiotic noises adults always do the children. "Who is going to be a strong Marine nooow? That's right Luffy, you!"

Ranma let his child responses take over for a moment, while he tried to figure out what Dragon had done to disappear like that. He couldn't think of anything though, and eventually came back to the here and now.

With his new caretaker Ranma/Luffy soon found himself on a large ship, with several hundred or so armed and uniformed people, ostensibly this Marine group his father was a part of. Ranma thought that was a weird name for a navy, but then again no one had asked his opinion.

A few weeks went by on the ocean, while Ranma continued to get better at controlling his new body, and began to think of himself as Luffy more, thanks to his grandfather calling him that. This time was interspersed with two battles, though of course Ranma didn't take part. In the room he shared with his grandfather he heard the stamping of feet and the booming of canons, and then shouts of terror from their enemies.

Most of these were along the line of, "Oh shit, it really is Garp the Fist's ship!" Or "Ah, please let us go Mister Garp sir!" Whenever he heard those Ranma/Luffy couldn't help but giggle and clap his hands, which always freaked out the marine assigned to watch him for the day.

Days turned into weeks, weeks turned into months. Ranma/Luffy began to walk, then run, then climb, his physical skills and drive bringing a happy tear to his grandfather's eyes. Ranma however felt potty training himself was the highlight of those first few years…

Despite this and his growing older however, Ranma was astonished to find his appetite was still monstrous. He found himself with a noticeable preference towards meat, something Ranma had to put down to Luffy's body since Ranma had been far more partial to fish. One thing however that he was also happy about was that despite Urd somehow fixing it so he still changed genders at the application of water (and breaking several local laws to do it, Ranma really hoped she was getting into trouble because of that with whoever was in charge) the water attraction part of the cruse hadn't carried over. Ranma/Luffy went days on end on a ship at sea without getting splashed, a godsend really.

Around the time Ranma/Luffy began to talk, Garp began to train him first simply giving him various exercises, all of which Ranma/Luffy took to like a duck to water of course then taking things to an extreme Ranma could all too easily see Genma having done to him. This continued, with Ranma living among the marines on Garp's ship as months turned into years and Ranma turned six.

Then Ranma/Luffy began to talk back, irritated by how little real techniques the old man was showing him. "All I've seen from your Marines old man is following your training and swinging those swords around like they barely know what they're doing." Ranma/Luffy said, once again showing diction and word use that a toddler probably shouldn't be able to.

But his grandfather, as Ranma had found out quickly, simply laughed such oddities off and even his crew took it for granted after the first few days. It was like going to Furinkan all over again only at a far higher level, the odd becoming normal not only quickly but easily. It was pretty obvious that this world had a much higher level of the 'crazy is normal' quotient than his old one, which was probably a good thing. Some things still startled them thankfully, just not Ranma's intelligence or body control.

"Bah, you don't know anything!" the old man said, shaking his head angrily. "Just because you were able to climb up that cliff on the last island doesn't mean you are ready for **true** Marine training brat!"

"Training?" Ranma/Luffy grunted. "You say it's training, but you don't actually give me anything, throwing me off a cliff or into the jungle isn't training! Unless you call survival training combat training!"

"You weren't saying that the other day when I made you fight those wolves brat!"

Around them some of the Marines stopped what they were working on and stared at their Admiral, then at Ranma/Luffy. "You heard him!" Ranma/Luffy said jumping to his feet and pointing angrily at the old man. "You all heard him! If that isn't child abuse I don'GA!"

The old man quickly grabbed Ranma/Luffy around the mouth shutting him up, looking around wildly, his face set in a rictus of a smile. "What an imagination the brat has! Nothing to see here, no need to a report anything that would get back to Tsuru, right!?"

After a few moments the Marines who'd been staring at the two of them shook simply shook their heads and turned away, simply muttering up about it being a moment of 'Monkey D. stupidity'.

"All right brat," Garp growled staring down at his grandson, rather fondly despite the last few moments. The boy was so set on getting stronger and training, it was amazing, and he'd already survived dozens of things that Garp thought he might've had to save him from. _He is truly my grandson_ Garp thought fondly, _what a Marine he'll make._

That thought neatly brought Garp back to the here and now: the boy had to be shown something, or else he might actually look beyond his grandfather for training. That would never do. He wasn't about to teach the brat about haki, but showing him some of the Rokushiki should work. "All right brat, watch this! Soru."

With that word, Garp disappeared from view. Ranma/Luffy stared at where he had been then turned, ducking under a blow from behind. "Soru."

AS he watched Garp disappeared again to appear on top of the mainmast. "This is Soru, the first of the Rokushiki or six powers, techniques only taught to high level marines or World Government agents, brat. And this is Geppo!"

With that word Garp leaped off into the air, but didn't fall. For a moment it was all Ranma could do to stare up at where Gramps was now standing on midair, simply hopping there as if it was solid ground, little puffs of air coming up from his feet.

Then the young boy began to laugh. "Haha, hahahaha, haahahha, hahahahahahahhaahaaa!"

It wasn't a happy laugh. It was the laugh of someone who had just been handed the final key to his plans for world domination. It was such a laugh that a young boy should never be able to do, and despite all the strangeness they were, as Garp's crew, completely inured to all work on the ship stopped as every Marine on deck or up in the rigging stared at Luffy and then began to back away fearfully. Some of them even nearly fell out of said rigging so scared were they by the demonic laughter.

Only Garp wasn't affected, and he simply smiled staring down at the youngster until he finally stopped laughing. "Okay Ji-kure (grandpa crazy), that right there, if you can teach me that **maybe** I'll join the Marines when I'm older."

Garp laughed then suddenly used Sour again to appear Ranna/Luffy's face smashing him to the floor with a hard punch, the so-called Fist of Love doing its work. "What if I told you about that nickname brat?!"

 **OOOOOOO**

The next time they were off the ship, was about a year after that discussion and when they did Luffy/Ranma discovered they had made port at a small village, barely twelve different houses clustered together around a few larger buildings. and it was obvious that the old man was well known here. He was stopped by every person who saw him, waving their hands at him or shouting his name as he made his way towards onone of the central buildings which had a tavern sort of look.

Inside the tavern was a woman Luffy/Ranma estimated as being just past her teenage years with green hair and a tall willowy frame. She must've been stronger than she looked however, because she was lifting a large barrel of ale onto the counter as they came in. She looked up, and her welcoming smile widened into a real one when she caught a glimpse of Garp. "Garp-san! You didn't send a message ahead, how are you doing?"

"I'm fine Makino-chan, still keeping the tavern together?" The old man asked with his booming laugh that always brought a smile to Luffy's face despite his best efforts.

"Yep ,Yep," she replied, then she spotted the young girl that the old man was carrying like a stray cat. "And who is this?"

"This is Luffy, he's going to be a strong Marine when he grows up! Unfortunately, I've been called back to headquarters for some such thing, and the Grand Line is no place for a youngster. I'm afraid I'm going to have to leave her here for a bit. Do you think you can watch her for me?"

"I told you Ji-kure I can look after myself!" Ranma/Luffy muttered, breaking out of his gramp's grip. The bastard had splashed him during that morning's breakfast, and hadn't let her have any time to change back since.

Garp smacked Ranma upside the head, sending her careening forward. "And I told you not to call me Ji-kure brat!"

Ranma rolled with the blow, coming up and turning quickly launching herself backwards to punch the older man in the balls. "Only a crazy old man would hit a toddler like you do!"

But she was anticipated, and Garp smacked her aside again right before her blow was about to land. "And only a crazy brat would try to kick her loving grandfather in the balls! Where did I go wrong raising you!?"

"You didn't ever even try to raise me, you just tried to train me!" Ranma grunted, pushing herself out of the debris from the chair she'd just crashed into bowing her head towards the older girl, who was looking at them both, her face torn between shock and amusement. "Sorry about the furniture, Ji-kure will pay for it!"

"Damn brat!" That old man bellowed, but was shaking his head at the same time chuckling. He tossed Makino a large bag of gold coins, which she caught deftly before hiding it behind the counter. "That'll pay for food and such like, and the broken furniture. Trust me, with him around it won't be the last time. Brat, be good for Makino, and I'll be back for you in a few years or so."

"Wait a few years!?" Luffy/Ranma said, frowning angrily. Luffy/Ranma launched herself at the man angrily. "Whattdya mean I have to stay here a few years!"

"A few months I said a few months," Garp said, waving his hand airily, not incidentally smacking Luffy away like a soccer ball. "Whatever. See ya later brat."

With that the old man left before Luffy/Ranma could fully extricate herself from the debris of the table she'd just smashed into. Luffy stared after him, then shook her head looking up at Makino. "See now why I call him Ji-kure?"

Makino laughed quietly shaking her head. "I think you'll like it here anyway Luffy-chan. How old are you anyway?"

Luffy counted on her fingers for a moment. "Somewhere between five and seven I think," Luffy/Ranma said shaking her head. "Don't know if I missed a few birthdays or not, I know I didn't have a birthday until a year or so back when Ji-kure suddenly remembered them, then we had two in like three months."

Makino laughed again. "That's Garp-san for you. He's not one to sweat the small stuff."

"Say that after you've felt his Fist of Love a few times," Ranma grumbled. "Anyway, just let me get ta work on this, it won't take but a moment," she said, righting the table and pulling out a set of tools from his/her, extremely small at this point, weapons space.

Makino gasped before swiftly throwing herself over the counter in an acrobatic display that Ranma had to blink at. Between one second and the next the green-haired woman was next to her, trying to grab the tools out of Ranma/Luffy's hands. "Little girls shouldn't hold sharp objects like that!"

Ranma/Luffy blinked at her. "I've spent at least three maybe as many as five years on a Marine warship. And you're worried about me having some woodworking tools?" She asked, her voice the dullest of deadpan tones.

The older woman a little at that then looked down at the tool in her hand, a small saw. Ranma/Luffy hadn't even tried to stop her from taking of course. "Do you really know how to use these?"

"I'm not so good with shipbuilding, but I can at least repair any furniture I break."

"…Well then let's get to work," Makino said, rolling up her sleeves. "If you show me you know what you're doing, the two of us can get this stuff prepared, and maybe I'll let you work on some other things in the back room for me okay. But I also think I need to start teaching you some manners and how to speak properly Luffy-chan. Being raised by your grandfather among marines excuses it, but you're not among them now."

"Um…" Ranma/Luffy said, staring at her for a moment. "I think first ya probably should get a cup of hot water…"

Makino reacted to the curse about as well as could be expected, fainting but not hurting anything when she did and astonishingly taking Ranma/Luffy's explanation of it at face value. She only had to see it in action a few times to get over her shock, but remained adamant that Luffy had to learn how to speak and act properly regardless.

"How you speak tells people about you Luffy-kun, regardless of what gender you are, and if you don't want to be looked down on, you can't keep talking like a gangster. Or country bumpkin. I also see another reason why Garp might have decided to leave you here with me in a few years..." That comment seemed to cause Makino to chuckle for a moment, but it went right over Ranma's head.

Instead he simply nodded, agreeing to learn how to speak from her and the two of them set to work repairing the broken furniture at last. "By the way, how do you know Ji-kure?"

"He used to live here when he was younger. Garp-san saved my family and I from pirates when I was your age, and we settled here. Mayor Woopslap knew my father, and the three of us opened up this tavern. My parents passed away a few years ago, leaving this place to me."

Taking in the girl's facial expressions with all of the experience he'd gained his last lifetime Ranma/Luffy stayed silent. There was obviously a story about her parents there, not a happy one if he was judging her face right but he couldn't tell whether or not it was connected to their deaths or not. Regardless it wouldn't be something a five or seven-year-old, whichever he was right now, would comment on.

Between the two of them they had the table and chair fixed under an hour, though Ranma/Luffy recommended that the chair be replaced entirely. After all where the broken bits were connected were now weak points, so it was doubtful anyone bigger than Luffy/Ranma could sit on it safely.

Soon after that, the evening rush came in and Ranma/Luffy made himself busy helping Makino around the tavern, taking orders and generally meeting the town-folk. When asked why he been left behind, Ranma/Luffy told him Ji-kure had left him there because he was heading back to the Grand Line, and one or two of them asked him if he was going to become a Marine.

Ranma/Luffy simply shrugged that, saying he wasn't much of a joiner, but all of them laughed saying he was young and Garp would train him up right. The mayor in particular was behind that idea, an old man barely a foot taller than Ranma/Luffy with big glasses, who wore aan absolutely vile looking Hawaiian T-shirt. Bad taste it seemed cross realities.

Over the next few weeks Ranma/Luffy and Makino got used to living together. Makino had an easy time of it, Ranma/Luffy was eager to help out around the house, and was excellent at woodcraft. Within two days he had carved her a new seat to replace the one Ji-kure had broken and replaced several ale barrels that had been broken over the past few years, and even repaired Makino's dresser, which had become rotted along the joints. He was also a lot stronger than his age suggested, able to lift the barrels of ale just as easily as she could. His manners weren't exactly good, but that was to be expected from a child his age, and the two of them got along famously.

For his part Makino reminded Ranma of a mix of Kasumi and his mom. She had his mother's physical strength but some of Kasumi's attitude combined with a sense of humor neither of them had. She also respected Ranma/Luffy's desire to continue training, and always went out of her way to ask him to help around the tavern lifting heavy objects and such like. The mornings were also Ranma/Luffy's to do with as he wished, while in the afternoon Makino began to teach him manners and a bit about cooking. Not that Ranma was the best pupil for the first, but at least learning the second gave Ranma a reason for already know how to cook from his last life.

Makino also tried to teach Ranma/Luffy some feminine mannerisms too. Ranma/Luffy learned them, figuring that since he was beginning so early with his curse he might as well use it to his advantage. Most of this of course wouldn't matter for a time, but eventually it might be very helpful to have a secret identity.

It was at this point that Ranma/Luffy began to fully integrate his sense of self into Luffy. Because it was at this point when Luffy's body truly began to come into its own, and Ranma realized that Luffy had been a damn monster! He could have put it down to the training he was putting himself through but there were simply areas where Luffy's body completely outperformed his older one by a significant margin. His ability to heal, his ki reserves and basic stats were all at a higher level now than Ranma could remember them being at this point as Ranma.

Moreover, when he was meditating in order to continue to grow his ki reserves, which Ranma/Luffy was irritated to find did not cross dimensions, Ranma/Luffy found another source of energy within him, some kind of **presence** that was within him. A monstrous one, something that was unique to Luffy. Ji-kure might've had it too, but Ranma/Luffy hadn't seen any sign of it over the years.

It was a very weird feeling, and when he accessed it was like becoming both an alpha predator and a black hole, creating pressure that anyone in the vicinity felt. Doing so in the forest caused all of the nearby animals to go silent, and even the wolves who'd been trying to sneak up on Ranma collapsed, foaming at the mouth. Ranma/Luffy wasn't close to understanding what it was but he knew it was there, and he had begun to make plans to train himself on it.

This routine was interrupted around four months into his stay with Makino. He came back into the town to sounds of panic several people were shouting, "Pirates are here! Pirates, a huge ship just docked!"

Ranma/Luffy frowned at that, having grown up hearing about pirates both good and bad. A few of the townspeople had either been former pirates or had stories about seeking out adventure as pirates from other people. Mayor Woopslap always told them to shut up about it shouting out about how pirates were scum but Ranma/Luffy had stopped listening to him within five minutes of meeting the man. A lot of the stories were mixed of course, but Ranma wasn't the type to generalize anyway.

Still, he made his way home to the tavern, smiling at Makino. "What do you think of these pirates Makino?"

Without even looking up from where she was filling a flagon Makino pulled out a large handgun, setting it on the counter. The guns in this universe were simple flintlocks, things from the Meiji Revolution era or similar, but still dangerous. "That for the bad ones, this for the good ones," she said smiling and holding up the flagon. She set it next to the gun as well, smiling at Luffy, who moved over to take a seat in front of her, twirling the stool around to face the entrance.

The group who entered the tavern several minutes later was an extremely motley bunch, but they definitely did have a certain presence to them, Luffy had to concede that. In the center of the group was a red-haired man with a straw hat on his head and a gleam in his eyes. He was laughing and joking with his crew, which consisted of a tall man with wide shoulders who was smoking a pipe and carrying a rifle on his shoulders, a fat man currently munching on a shank of meat, and a man with dreadlocks who looked thin almost to the point of emaciation but with some muscles on him.

The man in the lead bowed grandiosely towards the counter, pulling off his straw hat as he did so. "Young lady, we are the Red Hair Pirates. Would you happen to have ale for a group of wayward seafarers?"

"Not five minutes and you're already flirting!" shouted one of his men, causing all the others to laugh.

The man turned and glared at them, but that didn't do anything except make them laugh harder and he shook his head. "You're all be swabbing the decks I swear!"

With his threat delivered he turned back to Makino, cocking an eyebrow at her. His eyes flicked to Luffy, then to the gun, then back to Luffy, his face twitching slightly. In response Luffy's eyebrows rose in surprise seeing the man had recognized that Luffy was ready to launch himself at them if they were trouble. "I didn't realize this was a family establishment."

"Would you have cared if we were?" Makino asked. "And so long as you have payment for this," she said tapping the flagon of ale "you won't get this." she said tapping the gun.

"You haven't heard of the Red Hair pirates have you?" shouted one of them. "We're one of the toughest crews on the sea!"

"This isn't the sea." Makino said firmly. "This is my tavern, and here what I say goes."

"Ha well said," said Shanks with a laugh. "Far be it from us to question someone with such spirit."

"That's good." Luffy said with a nod speaking up for the first time. "If ya did I'd have to kick your asses."

After a second spent staring at the youngster the entire crew burst into laughter. "You kick our asses," howled the one with dreadlocks. "Hah that'll be the day!"

One thing that Luffy shared with Ranma was his complete inability to back down from a challenge, and if the laughter wasn't a challenge, Luffy didn't know what was. Suddenly Luffy was gone from his stool, and his fist thudded into the laughing man's stomach, sending him flying backwards. A kick to the man with the rifle was blocked, his little leg smacked upward, But Ranma moved with it, suddenly flipping in midair, then using Geppo to remain there, bouncing in the air in the middle of the tavern. "Anyone else want ta make fun of me?"

For a moment the Red-Hair pirates and Makino simply stared, then Shanks stepped forward, pushing the man with the rifle back slightly as he stared up at Ranma, his face serious, even as he secretly waved a few of his fingers at Makino behind his back. "I commend your skill kid, and even your desire to protect the pretty miss over there. However, we're not saints. We're pirates boyo, and you just attacked one of my crew. You know what I'm going to do now right?"

Suddenly Luffy felt pressure all around him pressing him down physically and mentally. It felt like the inner power he had found within his own body. Wincing Luffy had to land on the floor of the tavern but then began to bring out his own inner power, pushing against Shank's.

This caused Shank's eyes to widen, but he also began to smile. "Alright kid, that's damn impressive. But…" With that word Shanks disappeared so fast Luffy couldn't track him. His still sheathed sword came around in a wide arc, intending to smash Luffy to the ground.

But Luffy shouted out "Kami-E!" and dodged at the last second, his body bending around the blow. A fist flung out, but Shanks smacked it to the side, his smile widening. A kick was similarly blocked, and the butt of Shank's sword found Ranma's midriff, flinging him into the air.

Yet the boy somehow used the momentum of that hit to flip himself further upwards into a kick that nearly landed on Shanks' face.

Even as he dodged Shank's smile widened into a true grin. "Damn boyo, you're one tough cookie aren't you. Still, even the toughest should know when they're overmatched and just take their lumps." With that his still sheathed sword came around in an arc so fast Luffy couldn't even see if coming, and it smashed Luffy out of the air to crash into the bar.

Despite not having his water attraction curse, there were just some things that were destined so Luffy was not surprised to look up and see the flagon Makino had set out come tumbling over the side of the bar, splashing him and activating his curse. "Gah, of course, beaten and now sticky, just great."

Shanks blinked. "Ben, am I just seeing things or…?"

The man so addressed was the rifle user who had blocked Luffy's second kick. He slowly took his cigarette out of his mouth staring first at it then at the kid who had challenged their crew. "You're not seeing things cap'n. That boy just turned into a girl because of the ale…"

As one the rest of the pirate crew retreated to the doorway, causing Makino, who had remained silent during Shanks and Luffy's confrontation, to laugh aloud. She then put her hands on her hips, glaring at them all. "I'll have you know his curse is all Luffy's, it's got nothing to do with my tavern's ale!"

She turned her glare on Shanks who winked at her before moving to stand over Luffy, the tip of his sheathed blade now pushing the kid down with a strength Luffy couldn't match despite all his training. That strength was still enough to make Shank's nearly smile, but that would break his character for the moment so he didn't. "So brat, you prepared to pay the price for attacking a pirate?"

"Feh, if yer gonna kill me do it, I ain't gonna beg." Luffy growled out, while inwardly castigating him/herself for his inability to back off from a challenge. It was obvious now Shanks and at least some of his crew were hiding a lot of their strength, but Luffy hadn't felt it.

"Good Lad, er lass!" Shanks then smacked the boy-turned girl on the head, grinding his fist in and laughing aloud, as did his crew. "Damn kid, learn some common sense! You, take on me and my entire crew, who do you think you are, Garp the Fist!?"

"How do you know my grandpa?" Luffy said cocking her head to one side in astonishment even as she tried to get away from the red-haired man.

The entire crew shut up at that, and Shanks stared at her, letting Luffy go automatically, raising a trembling hand to point at him/her. "You saying," he said slowly "that you're Monkey D. Garp's grandson?"

"Yep," Luffy said with a nod. "That's me, Ji-kure's grandkid. You would not believe the crap he's put me through before dropping me off here."

"Actually given what you just showed us we probably would…" Shanks said slowly, exchanging a glance with Ben who chuckled, blowing a smoke ring as he too stared at Luffy thoughtfully. "What's your name kid?"

"Monkey D. Luffy, grandson of Monkey D. Garp, or as I like to call him, Ji-kure." Luffy said, hopping to her feet and grinning now at the old man. "Although he ain't to blame for the curse. That, I'm not going to tell you about."

"Don't worry Luffy, everyone has secrets. Well I'm Shanks, this is Ben, that's Lucky Roo and the man you cold-cocked is Yassop. We're the Red-Haired pirates, dreamers, treasure seekers and adventurers extraordinaire! Pull up a seat, and tell us about some of your training with the old man, and we'll tell you some or ours. Specifically, how'd you block my Haoshoku?"

And that was the first meeting between Shanks and Luffy. For the next year Shanks stayed there off and on, sometimes leaving for a few days or a week before coming back, flirting with Makino during the evenings, and training Luffy during the day. He was astonished at the speed with which Luffy learned how to fight, both unarmed and armed, even incorporating rifles into his personal repertoire thanks to Ben Beckmann and Yassop.

Shanks also showed him what a Devil Fruit looked like, and asked him if he wanted to eat it, to get an instant power up. Luffy however wasn't interested in eating some random fruit without knowing what kind of power it contained. Since Shanks couldn't tell him that, he refused. "Besides, it feels a little bit like cheating y'know? Maybe once I've mastered the six Rokushiki and Busoshoku, then I might be willing to eat a Devil Fruit. But not before."

Luffy also absorbed all the tales of adventure and thrill-seeking that the pirates could tell him. Here he learned of the mysterious One Piece, and remembering the mission he was in this dimension for, Ranma/Luffy suddenly realized that this might well be the item he was here to find. So he plied the crew with questions about it, Gold Roger, and the New World.

During these tales Shanks and Ben always took the lead. Yassop would turn the tale to his son, who he had left behind, which Luffy wasn't willing to comment on and honestly uninterested in. Lucky Roo didn't talk much, but he and Luffy had some truly incredible eating contests.

But it was Ben who explained that in this world, the reasons for someone turning to piracy varied wildly, something Luffy had already known of course, but that the greatest of pirates always were among those with the biggest dreams and the will to achieve them. "You see kiddo, the world's never been changed by anyone who's just going through the motions. Dreamers change the world, achieve their dreams, when they are willing to put **everything** they are on the line, their lives, their time, their very souls. The Pirate King wasn't just the strongest pirate, he was also the one with the biggest dream, a dream of freedom that took him to the edge of the world. The Cap'n, the other Yonkou, Garp, Tsuru and the other admirals, they all have dreams that have pushed them to become monsters among men."

"Of course there are a lot of people out there with petty dreams and petty desires. They call themselves pirates too, but they aren't, they soil the Jolly Rogers they use, mere bandits on the sea! If you don't have a dream, an all-encompassing mission you're willing to put your life on the line for, you're not worth being called a real pirate!" Despite his laid back demeanor, Ben was a passionate man about dreams and what he called the real soul of piracy, much like his captain, who shouted his agreement at that and ordered another round of ale at the same time.

Luffy actually began to ask (or demand depending on who you talked to) that the pirates take him with them on their trips. Shanks would simply laugh, saying he was too weak to come out to sea, while Lucky Roo and Yasopp would joke that a pirate ship was no place for a girl. Luffy would be hard-pressed to say which response infuriated him more, but since all the pirates knew to take him at least semi-seriously he could no longer attack them with any real chance of success.

One day while they were partying as normal however, they were interrupted by the arrival of some scum from further inland. The door to the tavern banged opened, and Luffy, the pirates and Makino all looked up from what they were doing to stare at a group of around twenty men dressed similarly to the pirates come, in, swaggering arrogantly as they stared around at the pirates.

"So these losers are what pass as pirates these days?" Said the leader of the bandits as he walked up to the counter. He was a tall man with a long thin mustache and a seemingly permanent sneer on his face

"Hello, Is there anything I can help you with?" asked Makino, while one hand disappeared under the bar's top. Even as she prepared to defend herself Makino didn't give the man any lip. These were bandits, not pirates, a wholly different sort of fish.

She looked at Ranma who had twirled around in his stool like Shanks, and was looking at the bandits, his little face scrunched up into a calculating frown. She shook her head lightly and Luffy subsided, but she could tell he was still tense like a spring.

The leader however didn't notice Luffy as a threat, simply giving the green haired beauty an arrogant smirk .smirk. "We're Mountain Bandits, we want no trouble, we just want ten barrel of sake and we will be out of here."

"I'm sorry but we are nearly out of stock. If you come back this weekend I should have at least three barrels ready to drink by then."

"Then what the hells are they drinking?" the Bandit suddenly shouted, pointing at the pirates as his men grumbled, hands falling to weapons as they glared murderously around them. "Or is that water in those flagons of theirs?"

"They are actually drinking all the ale I have ready right now." replied Makino, shaking her head regretfully.

Shanks chose that moment to stand up, bowing his head lightly to the bandit leader. "Yeah sorry but it seems that we have drunk all of the sake in this place over the last few days." Shanks then picked up an unopened bottle of ale. "You can have this last bottle if you want, I haven't open it yet."

Either Shanks tone or the gesture set the bandit off and he grabbed the proffered bottle before smashing it over Shanks's head. Shanks fell to the ground as the man shouted, "I, Higuma the mountain bandit have a bounty of 8 million beri on my head and you offer one pitiful bottle of sake?! I should burn this place down around your misbegotten ears!"

Luffy tensed further, then calmed down as Shanks stood up, ale dripping off him but seemingly uninjured for all of that. "Great now I've got the floor wet, you got a rag Makino-chan?"

"IllI'll take care of it captain. "." replied Makino coming out from behind the counter, leaving her gun behind for now.

Before she could do anything, Higuma drew his sword and smashed all the stuff on the bar to the floor. Higuma never noticed that Ben had clamped down on Luffy's shoulder, keeping the kid in his stool as he turned to Makino, leering at her for a moment before he spat to the side. "You like cleaning up, clean that up! Come on boys, we can find a better place to drink than with this cowardly scum."

The bandits trooped out, and suddenly all the pirates were laughing, shaking their heads at their captain shouting how the bandit had gotten him good. Luffy too smirked, leaning back slightly. "Small dogs bark the loudest I suppose. That wasn't how I'd have handled it, but I guess it works."

"You always have to be careful Luffy, never fight when you don't really have to, and never pick on the weak." Shanks said, drying himself off and winking at Makino who was helping him, causing the young woman to blush and look away. "Even those foolish frogs who've never been out of their wells."

Luffy laughed joining the rest of them, but he also stared out the door. _I just hope those bandits aren't the type to come back here again to push their luck. I didn't like the look that bastard gave Makino._

Of the two it would be Luffy who was proven correct. Several weeks later, after having been kicked off Shanks ship after trying to stow away, Luffy walked back to Makino's tavern in a rather down mood. Makino looked up as Luffy entered, shaking her head at the bedraggled sight. "Don't come in here like that Luffy, you know the rules, no dripping water on the floor. What happened anyway?"

"Shanks and the others know how good a swimmer I am by this points, so Ben just kicked me off the ship. When I tried to use Geppo, that bastard Yasopp got my legs with a bola." Luffy grumbled, grabbing the towel Makino threw at him out of the air. "I had to swim back to the docks, then Mayor Whiner starts on me about shaming the town as the fishermen all laugh at me."

"No cursing!" Makino scolded. "It shows a lack of intelligence. Did you hear Shanks curse? AS punishment for that you get to stay in your female body for the rest of today. And what have I told you about calling the mayor names?"

Luffy pouted at her, but nodded after a moment, knowing Makino would inforce that rule by throwing water at her if Luffy tried to regain her male body. So Luffy spent the rest of the day as a girl, and the day passed uneventfully until it was near evening. Then they had another visit from scum.

"Excuse us!" Shouted Higuma arrogantly, kicking the door to the tavern open before looking around, a sneer on his face as he stared at the few scattered villagers in the tavern at this time of day. "Well, looks like those weak-ass pirates aren't here today." He looked at Makino, leering openly at her now. "You're not going to make up another excuse not to serve us, are you missy?"

Makino's eyes narrowed, and one hand slipped under the bar, grabbing her pistol. Yassop had given her some lessons with it, and she was even better than she had been. But the pistol only had one shot, and she'd just sent Luffy out for some firewood for the evening. _Curse it, bad timing._ "I've got ale this time, yes, and we've got two boars cooking over the fire as you can see, though they just started cooking a few minutes ago."

"Excellent, give us some ale girl!" Higuma shouted, and his men cheered, sitting down at the tables and the bar.

The green-haired young woman obeyed swiftly, tossing flagons of ale down the line then moving around the bar quickly with a tray heavy with more. For the first few moments everything was fine, then as she passed one of the bandits the man grabbed her around the middle, fondling her rear as he pulled her towards him. "How much for a night darlin'?"

Makino replied swiftly, her fist coming around in an arc that smashed into the man's head, sending him flying backwards. "I'm not for sale!"

The bandits and villagers who were in the tavern all scrambled to their feet, the bandits pulling out weapons as Higuma leered at her. "Now that wasn't very nice missy, you're gonna have to pay for that. My boys might've left you in one piece before, but now…" He waved his hand and the crowd closed in.

Makino pulled out her pistol, but she only had one shot with it and the crowd was between her and Higuma, the only target which might have made the others back off. Nevertheless her waving it around made the bandits halt for a moment, but then they closed in, knowing she could only shoot one of them just as well as she did.

The door to the backyard banged open at that moment, and Luffy, still in her female body, stood there, taking in the scene at a glance. The nearest bandits were still turning towards her when she hurled the wood she was carrying into the air. Her fists lashed out, smashing into the pieces of wood and sending them flying forward to slam into the bandits one after another. Within seconds of her arrival six of them were down, with four more wounded. The few villagers who had remained in the tavern took this as a sign to start either running away or grabbing up weapons from the downed bandits.

But they were a mere sideshow as Luffy charged forward, shouting "Get away from her!" Hopping up over the first hastily swung blade, Luffy kicked out with enough force to break that bandit's jaw and send him flying backwards. Using a mix of Geppo and Kami-E, Luffy danced among and above the bandits smashing them to the floor with fists and feet.

During this a single gunshot rang out, and a bandit fell, his throat blown out. Makino backed away grabbing up a chair and using it to hit the first bandit that came at her, putting a table in front of her and most of the others, who thankfully seemed to mostly concentrating on Luffy now, the villagers already down or fled.

Unfortunately Higuma was not one of them. He moved around the ongoing melee, attacking Makino. His sword smashed the chair she tried to use to flinders and he ducked her wild punch, grabbing her by the hair and pushing her to the floor in front of him. "Hey girl, if you don't want yer friend here to die I suggest you give up."

Luffy looked over, seeing Makino captured and cursed himself. _If only I knew Soru, Rankyaku, Shigan or even was able to do my old air pressure attacks!_ Despite his training Luffy just wasn't up to that speed yet. Indeed even Geppo was hard, his/her legs would be sore for weeks after this exercise. Luffy debated trying to use his Haoshoku, but he couldn't direct it like Shanks could, and he didn't know if Makino would be able to handle it.

With no way to cross the intervening space and now seeing more bandits pulling out their guns to point not at her but at Makino, Luffy dropped to the ground. The bandits closed in quickly, kicking punching Luffy until she was a bloody while Makino screamed at them to stop.

Higuma sneered down at her, reaching down to grab the top of her dress. "You're not in any position to make demands little missy." He was about to tear it off when the door to the tavern banged open and Shanks and his crew entered.

"What's all this then?" Shanks asked, striding forward. Even as he did so, his presence washed out, almost moving around Makino and even Luffy and the downed villagers, touching them like a pile of feathers. At the same time it hit all ten of the remaining bandits, falling on them both in body and spirit like a mountain. Their eyes rolling back and foaming at the mouth they fell to the floor, their minds broken by the pressure.

Only Higuma remained on his feet, his eyes wide and practically unseeing. Shanks ignored him for a moment, staring at the bloody mess that was Luffy at present. "Hey Luffy, you're not looking too good there girl."

Luffy growled up at him but then coughed, her ribs creaking. _Got to look into the Breaking Point training, just because I can dodge doesn't mean I shouldn't be able to take a punch!_ "Shanks…"

Shanks waved a hand, and there was a single bang. Looking over Shanks' shoulder Ranma saw Yasopp lowering his pistol. Turning his head he saw Higuma collapse backward, but somehow Yasopp had shot the man standing right behind Makino in such a way that none of his blood got on her, an astonishing feat.

"Baka!" Shanks said, smacking Luffy very lightly on the head. "What were you thinking taking them all on with how weak you are! Did you even think about shouting for help, no, what would've happened if we weren't here huh!"

"I'm not weak!" Luffy growled, pushing herself to her feet. "I was doing fine until that bastard took Makino hostage."

"Which you should've thought he might do, they're bandits, not saints! This isn't a game Luffy!"

"Then I'll get stronger, I'll protect my friends and anyone else I have to!"

"No one's that strong kid, only Gold Roger was strong enough to do that!" Shanks replied, shaking his head.

Dammit, I'll show you, I'll find One Piece before all of you, and then I'll show you how strong I am!"

"Baka!" Shanks shouted, bashing Luffy over the head again even as his crew dragged the bodies of the bandits out of the tavern. "That would make you Pirate King!" He shook his head, laughing loudly, yet Ben smirked at him, and there was a gleam in Shanks' eyes, the same gleam that had been there since he learned Luffy had the D. in his name. "How's a weakling like you supposed to do that!?"

"Then I'll be the Pirate King!" Luffy shouted, kicking out hard and catching Shanks in the shin, causing him to shout and hop on one leg for a moment. "I'll show you I'll be the strongest, the freest man in the world!"

The rest of the crew were laughing at that until one of them said, "Wait, wouldn't that make you Pirate Queen?" The nameless pirate who said that started a new gale of laughter in his crewmen, but Luffy's shriek of fury and her assault stopped him personally from enjoying it.

 **OOOOOOO**

A few days after that, Shanks and his crew left, leaving in the morning after a particularly boisterous night of drinking and tale-telling in Makino's bar. Luffy was there to wave goodbye to them at the harbor, and once again shout about how he was going to become King of Pirates before Shanks did.

The redheaded pirate replied by calling him 'Queenie', something that nearly made him lose his head when Luffy hurled a small brick at him, only for it to be smacked straight backwards at him by the Shank's sword. When he looked up again after shaking his head however, Luffy gaped as he saw Shanks' prized straw hat sailing through the air to land precisely on his head.

Shanks grinned at the youngster's astonished face. "Get stronger and come see me in the New World! Until then, I'm entrusting you with my treasure until you find One Piece! It's a promise Luffy!"

"I will! I'll become stronger Shanks, I'll be the Pirate King, you'll see!" Luffy waved back, surprised to find some tears trying to appear in his eyes.

In reply Shanks merely nodded, turning away as his ship's sails unfurled and they left the small harbor behind.

Luffy stared after the ship until it was out of sight, then turned away. When he got back to the tavern, he was surprised to find Makino wasn't up yet. Moving around the bar he entered her room, asking "Hey Makino, you okay, they didn't try to get ya drunk again did theeeyyy…."

Makino looked up from where she had just pulled out of the bed, naked as the day with she was born. Luffy stared, blushed then rushed out of the room so rapidly it looked as if he'd used Soru, shouting "Sorry!" behind him. He didn't notice how rumpled the bed was or the small spot of blood and other stains on it.

Several moments later he was joined at the bar by Makino, who laughed at his embarrassment as she entered the tavern. "Its fine Luffy, it's not like that was the first time you walked in on me. We still have to get ready for the day, so why don't you bring up a new barrel of ale, the thirteenth one towards the back should be ready by now."

She stopped as she noticed a note left on the counter. Picking it up and opening it quickly she read through it and seemed to stiffen for a moment. Luffy watched perplexed as her hand came down smashing into the counter with enough force to leave cracks. Then she turned smiling brightly in a way that really, **really** worried Luffy, who remembered seeing smiles on that on girl's faces way to often back when he was Ranma. "Luffy, did Shanks and the others already set sail?" she asked sweetly.

"Y-Yes," Luffy stuttered, scared for some reason he couldn't put into words.

"I see," Makino said, calmly, very calmly, scarily so in Luffy's opinion. "In that case, why don't you start setting up the tavern instead of getting that barrel of ale? I just remembered some work I want to do in the cellar."

With that she turned, pulled on the trapdoor to the taverns cellar so hard the handle nearly broke off in her grip, and then stomping down the stairs. She delicately closed the trapdoor after her and Ranma went about his business for several hours listening to Makino shrieking and screaming as she worked off her anger. _What the hell did you do Shanks!?_

The next few days were rather nervous ones for Luffy, who walked on eggshells around Makino as did everyone else who entered the tavern. They quickly learned that Shanks was a forbidden topic. This went away slightly a few days later, when something arrived on time, making Makino really happy.

Luffy didn't realize what it was at first, then when he did blanched horribly, realizing for the first time what Shanks had done and why Makino was so pissed. That evening he brought up the subject delicately, or delicately for Luffy/Ranma anyway. "Er, so when I go out to sea do you want me to drag Shanks back here kicking and screaming, or just carve out a few pounds of his hide?"

Makino looked at the now certainly at least eight-year-old, then began to chuckle. "Do you even know what you're asking? Or why I'm angry Luffy?"

"I've been hanging around this tavern for a year, and Marines for several years longer. I might not know you know everything about…" Luffy blushed, despite actually knowing a lot more than that, he hadn't any 'hand's on experience'. "Um, Slot A into Tab B, but I know what men and women get up to when they're alone. Sorry it took so long for me to put it together."

Makino laughed, pulling the youngster into a hug, which he returned. "So that's a no then?" he asked his voice muffled against her stomach.

"That's an 'I'll think about it'," Makino said smiling wickedly. "He promised to write me, every month he said in that note. Give me one month, and then I'll give you my answer."

Luffy shrugged. "If he does come back someday and hasn't written I could train you a bit you know, so you could take a pound of out of his hide yourself."

Makino frowned, remembering how helpless she had felt against the bandits. "All right, that at least I will agree to now."

Three weeks passed, then three weeks more, and no message arrived. Makino became cranky and sad in turns, staring out to sea every night, and getting up early in the morning to search the sky for a messenger-gull. But no message appeared. A week or so went by like and every night after the tavern closed Makino went down into the cellar to rant and rave before going to bed cranky only to start the whole cycle up again the next day.

Then as Makino began to show signs of getting over this emotional rollercoaster, Luffy made his suggestion again. "Seriously I will drag him back kicking and screaming if you want me to."

Makino laughed again shaking her head before staring at Luffy seriously. "You're serious about this Pirate King thing aren't you?"

"You bet!" Luffy said with a nod, his eyes gleaming. It was a challenge, a sign that he would be not only the strongest but the freest in the world, something that Luffy/Ranma loved the idea of, irrespective of completing his so-called mission in this galaxy. Something he only vaguely remembered these days if he was honest.

"In that case, you just got your first crewmember." Makino said laughing even though there was no humor in it this time. "Shanks won't ever come back here willingly, but that doesn't mean I can't hunt him down instead."

Luffy nodded, not seeing any problem with that. Other people might have tried to dissuade her, but that wasn't Luffy/Ranma's style. "In that case, we're going to step up our training!"

 **OOOOOOO**

About six months after Shanks left, Garp returned, and was astonished at the progress his grandson had made shouting happily, "Oh my God what a marine you'll be Luffy! Hah, I'm gonna call Tsuru right now, bet I can get her to renege that ridiculous age limit thing."

"Yeah about that Ji-Kure, I've decided I'm not going to be a Marine," Luffy said shaking his head then suddenly grinning and giving his grandfather a thumb's up. "Instead I'm going to become the King of Pirates!"

Needless to say the shouting went on for quite a while after that…

A few weeks later, Luffy was dragged kicking and screaming by Garp into the mountains, because apparently he wanted to leave Luffy with some mountain bandit he knew this time. Why he couldn't leave Luffy with Makino again Luffy didn't understand and wasn't told but given his previous experience with bandits Luffy was obviously against this. Yet the Fists of Love still found him regardless of how much he tried to dodge and so here he was.

"The bandits will train you up right brat, and besides, you can't really think that staying with Makino will make you stronger, can you."

"You'd be surprised psycho." Luffy growled.

"What no grandpa now?"

"You lost grandpa privileges the moment you mentioned dropping me off with some mountain bandits who owe you a favor!" Luffy growled.

"Such a mouth on you!" Garp said shaking his head. "And here I thought Makino would cure that for you."

Luffy growled, but stopped speaking afterwards Garp smacked him upside the head. Luffy didn't have enough brain cells for him to want to lose more in that manner. Little did he know that his meeting too would change his life in this new world…

 **OOOOOOO**

 **Seven years later:**

"Are you sure you still want to come with me Makino?" Luffy asked as he tossed down the last of their supplies into their before grabbing up a booklet of loose papers, flipping through them. It was a small ship, but a decent one all the same, made by Luffy himself working with the town's carpenter. It only had a single small room, but the two of them had shared a room often enough for that to not matter. Besides they weren't intending to use this ship for long.

"I'm certain Luffy," Makino said with a nod. "If Shanks thinks sending me a message whenever the mood takes him is enough to make up for leaving like he did, he is sorely mistaken."

Luffy laughed, shaking his head. "Fine, I'm not going to try again. Still have the welt from the last time I tried to talk you out of anything. It should be fun to catch up with my brothers in the New World anyway."

Makino looked over Luffy shoulder at the bounty hunters list a booklet that he had picked up somewhere with the bandits, shaking her head and laughing at the two bounties he'd pulled out. "Who knew those two kids I had to teach manners to would make names for themselves under the most feared pirate in the world?"

"Whitebeard's not feared," Luffy said shaking his head. "At least not really. Respected yeah, but feared? I've never heard any tales about Whitebeard wiping out islands or anything like that, have you? Only stories about him killing other pirates or groups which threaten his islands and crews."

"Suppose I haven't at that." Makino said and smiled. "So he's like Shanks?"

"Well in that way anyway," Luffy shrugged. "I also heard once that he calls his whole crew his family which is kind of cool."

Luffy frowned flipping through the list as Makino turned to untie the boat holding them to the docks. "Man look at these bounties, the biggest is only 20,000,000, no one in East Blue is really worth my time."

"That might be true, but remember money's always important." Makino laughed. "We won't become anything but corpses it in the Grand Line with this little ship after all."

"True," Luffy said with a nod. "And we'll need to gather a crew too."

"Have you had any thoughts about that?"

"Dreams," Ranma replied promptly. "A navigator, a tough fighter for a first mate, a cook and gunner maybe, a carpenter and someone to act as bursar, but none of that is important if they don't have dreams. They must have dreams **and** the drive to reach them, because where we are going only those with the strongest wills will survive, Like Shanks and Ben said."

Makino nodded making no comment that her own dream was rather small in comparison to Luffy's as was her drive. Instead she helped pole them away from the town's wharf. Then the sails caught and they began to pull away. As it did the two of them turned staring back at the town they had just left for a moment before resolutely turning away to face their futures.

Just then a giant sea king burst out of the water, roaring at them and lunging toward the small boat.

"Can't you see we're sailing on a journey here you stupid fish!?" Luffy shouted. Suddenly he was standing in front of the thing, hopping on the air with one leg. His other leg lashed forward catching the thing with a blast of air pressure shaped like a curved balde, flinging it backwards.

"That reminds me Luffy," Makino said with a laugh. "How is your grandfather going to take the fact that you finally set off on your dream to be a pirate?"

Luffy shivered. "L-let's not find out for a bit," he said, his voice cracking slightly. But as he turned to gaze out to sea that fear left him and he grinned, eager for his new adventure to begin. "I'm going to be the freest and strongest of them all! I'm going to be the Pirate King!"

 **End Prologue**

* * *

I had intended to write up how Ace and Luffy met and some of their adventures yet when I reread it Ace came off as an asshole which is fine at first but not after they're bonded brothers, and the rest was too darn choppy to use. So that section of Luffy nee Ranma's life will be shown in random flashbacks, including the first time he goes by the name Ranko in his female form - which will be his name in that body going forward. I didn't want to become bogged down in that area, I know how irritating it can be to have to read through the background of stories like that before getting to the meat of them.

Pairing: LuRanma/Robin/maybe Nami but she has some serious attitude adjustments to go through/Margaret possibly eventually.

Anyway, I hope you all enjoyed.


	2. Chapter 2

I don't own One Piece - way too Shounen or Ranma 1/2 - way too based on comedy through pain.

Yeah, I know, not my best work…

This has been betaed by _Hiryo_ and myself, which again probably means that there are mistakes scattered throughout. If you spot any, mention them specifically in your review or a PM as Riniko22 mentioned in his for the last chapter. The mistakes you mentioned have been corrected LOL!

Oh, and to the two guests (or maybe one who somehow left two reviews on the same point) who commented on me being a dumbass for keeping the curse: opinions are like assholes: everyone has one, that doesn't mean yours is worth sharing especially if you're rude about it. However, there was another actual reviewer who mentioned the curse in a more polite manner. To that i will say that going into this world I had a choice of what to keep from the Ranma-verse. I decided to keep the curse rather than the name, since I had gone that route in Wild Wolf. I could also see Urd doing that to Ranma in a heartbeat given the names he called her.

* * *

 **Chapter 2: Of Marines, Bounty Hunters, Pirates and Thieves**

Dancing around a ballroom on a pleasure cruise for the rich and famous despite not being either of those things was an orange-haired young woman with the emphasis on the 'woman' part. Even at 17, Nami, for that was the young woman's name, was used to getting glares from other women older and richer than her. Because they knew that she had a face and even a body all their money cannot buy. Receiving looks like that were some of her little joys Nami allowed herself while going about her business.

Today was another such day and Nami smirked internally as she left the dance floor ignoring with near-regal disdain the glares at her from some of the other ladies. _That's right eat your heart out ladies I make this cheap dress look better than any of your thousand beli outfits!_

What Nami was making look good at the moment was a simple blue dress which came down from her shoulders leaving only a slight hint of her bust visible before going down to her ankles. It looked like a princess outfit but she hadn't worn it because it flattered her figure. No, Nami had worn it because it flared out below the waist, which allowed her to keep the tools of her trade and her collapsible staff on her, the last of which she wore at all times. Nami would rather go swimming with piranha, literally, than go anywhere without her staff.

Moving out of the ballroom, Nami moved through the ship as if heading back towards her room, though if any of the other passengers had asked the sailors which room that was or vice versa, none of them would've been able to answer. Nami was a stowaway. After all, why pay to board a ship when you're just going to rob everyone on it anyway?

A few moments later Nami exited the captain's quarters. She had a small pouch over one shoulder now and an _irritable_ scowl on her face. The captain hadn't actually had much in his private safe which meant the partygoers became her main target. _Darn, pickpocketing all of them is going to take forever!_

Dropping the small pouch off in a room she knew to be empty, Nami then rejoined the party still going on in the ship's ballroom. She did not go back onto the dance floor however, instead simply mingling with the crowd, smiling politely when addressed, but otherwise simply part of the decor. Despite several women glaring at her, Nami made an effort to blend into the background, and succeeded to a degree that should've been impossible given her looks and in particular her orange hair, but she did.

Mostly what she was concentrating on was counting up the loot here and she wasn't impressed really. _Good grief, rich really does sometimes equal stupid_. A lot of the jewelry she was seeing were fake, oh the gold was real enough but the jewels were either well-made glass or inferior stones polished up to look far better than their actual worth. _The amount could still make a decent haul all together, but how to get it all away?_

She took a glass of red wine from a waiter, sniffing it appreciatively before moving over to the side of the ballroom towards where she saw the captain holding forth to the richest looking people in view. If there was anything more valuable than what the partygoers had on their persons aboard, he would be the one to know about it. She hadn't seen any sign of a hidden safe but you never knew.

Nami stopped however when she passed a window, spotting something in the distance, a small ship coming towards them. It was a very small ship, a small two-person sloop, though it looked to be decently rigged.

What had grabbed Nami's attention however was the shock of a red hair she could see out there. Nami knew her own hair sometimes turned heads, and she had lost count about them amount of times she was called a ginger, but in comparison to the woman out there, there was no contest as to who the real redhead was.

Her attention came back to her owner surroundings as she heard the captain laughed loudly, obviously quite deep into his cups. "Pirates? We've never had a problem with pirates! This ship has never, and will never have any problem with pirates. We stay well away from any known pirate waters, and we have a direct line to the nearest Marine base or ship at all times. Only the most idiotic pirate would try to…"

So she wouldn't be obviously eavesdropping Nami moved away slightly. She looked out another window for a second only to sweatdrop, looking back at the captain then back out. Coming out from behind an outcropping of rocks sticking out of the ocean was tackiest, pinkest ship she had ever even imagined flying a personalized pirate flag. _I don't know what's worse, the proof that fate might just have a sense of humor, or that ship's design, ugh! On the other hand, from chaos, comes opportunity…_

 **OOOOOOO**

Hearing the sound of cannon fire in the distance Luffy looked around from his argument, currently **her** argument, with Makino. Luffy had many talents, but navigating was not one of them. He/she could do it on an island easily enough, but not out on the ocean. He simply couldn't keep all the stars and everything else in his head, so Makino had been the one doing the navigating so far as they entered the tried to find the waters where their first target was supposed to hang out. The argument had been because Luffy had thought they had passed the area, whereas Makino knew they hadn't.

Now hearing the cannon fire Makino stuck her tongue out at Luffy, who pouted rather adorably at her. "No one likes a sore winner Makino."

Makino laughed, pushing the shorter girl in the shoulder as she took in her companion's form once more. Luffy was very short in her female form, only around five foot three if that, something that, though she didn't know it, was holdover from his life as Ranma which Urd had 'thoughtfully' tagged on when she played her prank. As was the shock of red hair, which currently was spooling down to her shoulders in loose curls, something Makino had done to it after they had decided it would be a good idea for Luffy to use his female form for his bounty hunting activities. That way they could use his bounty hunting later on as a way to rustle up cash if needed.

Surprisingly Luffy's curves from his last life hadn't carried over entirely. His hips were slightly thinner, and she had definitely more of a tomboy image overall, with B cup breasts rather than the C pushing D cup that Ranma's female form had grown in his/her last life. Luffy's female form was a little wider in the shoulders too, though she was the same height, something that irritated Luffy no end when he thought of it.

Currently Luffy was wearing short cut-off jeans that barely came down to mid-thigh, a T-shirt and a wide belt. The T-shirt had the words 'Thunderstruck' on it, and a pair of shades completed the ensemble. His straw hat was currently perched on Makino's head for safe keeping to further separate Luffy from 'Ranko', the name Luffy wanted to use in his/her bounty hunter persona.

It was a memorable look, but Makino had devised it so that everything would take away attention from Luffy's actual face. 'What did the bounty hunter look like Marine? Well she was short and perky. Can you describe her face? She had red hair and glasses.' Indeed, Makino's skill with clothing and alternate identities had surprised Luffy.

Pulling out a spyglass Luffy held up to one eye, pushing her shades up lightly to do it. "Good God that ship is, wow. Someone is really overcompensating in the whole girlish image department. I mean, do girls really like pink that much?"

"Judging from her wanted picture, I imagine that Alvida has a lot of problems with her personal image," Makino replied dryly, looking down at the picture for a moment then taking the spyglass from Luffy. "So what's the plan?"

"Plan?" Luffy asked blankly then kicked up into the air using Geppo grinning down at Makino. "I don't need a plan!"

Makino laughed, then turned and began to take in the sails, moving closer towards the other two ships which were now tied together as Luffy raced ahead of her, bouncing over thin air as easily as if he was walking on land. She would never get used to how at home in the air Luffy looked, but it certainly gave him an advantage in a fight. _Not,_ she reflected for a moment smiling somewhat evilly, _that this is going to be much of a battle._

Luffy soon arrived at the ship, hopping in midair above the two vessels, he watched as the crew of the pirate vessel moved their ill-gotten gains off of the yacht and onto their own ship, apparently having finished robbing the guests. Directly in the center of all this activity was a giant fat woman, at least 10 feet tall or so, she stood taller than every man in sight, not just in girth either. She had a massive iron mace over one shoulder, and she seemed to be berating a small pink-haired boy with large, thick glasses that just screamed nerd to Luffy's senses.

Deciding he'd seen enough and realizing none of the morons below him had yet noticed his presence, Luffy cleared his throat, then spoke. "Hey, you the whale they call Alvida?"

For a moment the activity continued before screeching to a halt as all eyes turned towards where the odd voice had come from, every face in sight showing pure terror. They saw a short red-haired woman, staring down at them with an almost bored expression on her face, as if what she had just said was the equivalent of asking what the weather was like. If the pirates were given to introspection, the fact that she was, you know, **hopping in midair** , should've given them a clue that this young woman was not normal. But pirates, especially low-grade ones, were not known for their intelligence.

Instead they all screamed and ran away as Alvida roared. "What did you call me!?" Swinging her club off her shoulder she whirled into a blow designed to connect with the redhead.

But the redhead reached out with one hand, grabbing the iron club by its shaft, not even moving from the impact of the blow on her arm. "I asked if you were the whale called Alvida, but I guess yer face and the iron club is enough to identify you anyway."

Turning Luffy flung one of her leg out quickly, a Rankyaku flying through the air to impact a group of pirates who had just been about to fire on her. Others began to do the same, and Luffy let go of the iron club before dodging this way and that in midair, contorting her body in a way that made one or two of the pirates actually grin evilly and mutter to themselves about what they were going to do with her once they brought her down.

That was counting their eggs before they hatched because even after several minutes of firing not a single bullet had hit Luffy. "Are you done yet?" she asked dully, then began to fling more Rankyakus down, smashing into groups of pirates, hurling them aside as if they had been struck by Alvida's club but not cutting into their bodies. Luffy had perfected the ability to use a less deadly version of that assault several months ago. Once a space was cleared, she landed lightly, looking up at Alvida from behind her sunglasses. "So, how exactly did a whale learn to walk anyway?"

"Why you…" Alvida growled, unaffected by what had happened to her crew, far more interested in Luffy's continued insults. "Coby! Who is the fairest woman on the seas?"

"…You don't read the newspaper much do ya?" Luffy said shaking her head. "There's talk about this empress of the oceans Boa Hancock, and I know there's a captain in the Marines named Hina something or other. She's damn sexy from the picture I've seen of her. Both of them are stronger and a hell of a lot prettier than you, you fat slab of…"

At that point Alvida lost her temper once again, bringing her club down in an attempt to smash Luffy. But Luffy used Shave and began to dance around insulting Alvida, using her really more to destroy the rest of her crew than anything else. Despite their best attempts to get out of the way Luffy continually led her right to the few remaining groups of pirates hiding here and there on the deck or over on the yacht

Yet despite this destruction Alvida was still on his insults to her 'beauty' and shouted again at the short boy. "Coby! Tell this bitch who the fairest is, or you'll be swapping spit with Moby Dick before the day is out!"

Coby had hidden himself the moment the battle began, hiding underneath a pile of ropes with only his head sticking out. At Alvida's first question he had begun to answer by rote, before shuddering to a halt as he continued to watch this short slip of a girl toy with Alvida, even Coby could tell that. For some reason simply watching it gave Coby courage that he didn't know he had. "You are…. you are a fat slab of blubber Alvida, just like she says! And when I become a Marine, I, I'll capture you!"

Alvida turned in rage, and suddenly 'ooofed' when Luffy stopped dodging and went on the attack. A single blow to the side of her body sent Alvida careening across the deck, smashing into and through the last of her pirate crew before slamming into aft deck, out like a light from the pain. And probably, Luffy thought as she looked down at her fist, with a few cracked ribs. She hadn't used Armament of course.

In fact Luffy intended to not use Armament against anyone in East Blue except maybe someone with a Devil Fruit. Otherwise it would simply be overkill, and he really didn't want to advertise he could use it in either of his bodies. The only people who knew about that and his Chaozhou haki were Shanks and his brothers and Luffy wanted to keep it that way for as long as possible.

But for someone like Alvida, even a regular punch was devastating. Once making certain the giant woman wasn't moving, Luffy looked over at Coby cocking her head thoughtfully. "You really don't look like you belong here kid, there a story behind that or what? Or were you part of part of the yacht's crew?"

"What the hell!?" shouted a female voice, coming from ahead of Luffy, where an entrance to the interior of the ship could be seen among the rubble of Alvida's rampage. A Orange Town headed young woman, looking a little older than Luffy herself stuck her head out, staring at the carnage. She wore what looked like the normal pirates garb, a loose shirt and pantaloons with a sash around the middle. "What, just what is…"

Luffy looked at her, then back at the crew all around them. "If you were part of this crew, how the hell did Alvida think that anyone was telling the truth when she asked them about that fairest of them all crap?"

The Orange Town-haired woman laughed rather shakily, still staring around her as she began to drag a large amount of treasure out behind her. Luffy smirked, moving over to help, only to get her hand smacked away possessively. "I'm not part of the crew! I hate pirates, I was just trying to rob them!" The girl glared at Luffy then put both of her arms around the small bag of loot protectively. "It's mine! You can't have it!"

"Don't want it," Luffy said with a laugh. "I'll just take Alvida and find the nearest marine base or ship. She's got a bounty on her, and that'll do me fine."

The girl subsided, looking at the redhead thoughtfully, gesturing around them at the wreckage of the deck. "So you're a bounty hunter? Is this your doing then? How did you do it?"

"Easily," Luffy said dryly. "And yes I'm a bounty hunter, well for now anyway."

The girl still was looking at her thoughtfully then around at all the damage. "I don't suppose you need a navigator do you?"

"Actually yeah I do." Luffy nodded, moving over to start tying up the crew gesturing at Coby, who had fallen silent at the Orange Town-haired girl's appearance, to join him. "Makino and I are okay using the sails, but the further we get away from our starting point, the less she's able to navigate us. Don't suppose you know where the nearest Marine base is from here? And what's your name anyway?"

"Nami, and I am the best navigator you will ever meet!" The girl said smirking and holding out her hand. "For a mere 60 percent of the cut, I'll get you to wherever you want."

"I don't think so," Luffy laughed, reaching over to push her shoulder playfully before turning back to tying up the pirate she was currently working on and the other girl grinned. None of them were conscious, and Nami wondered again what the heck she had missed while digging through Alvida's treasure room.

At the same time the crew of the yacht began to make itself known, coming out from the inside of the ship where they had been forced to remain with the passengers. They all moved quickly to help shooting glances at Luffy and the other two, some of them even thanked Ranko as they did. But when they spotted Nami they became a little too suspicious for her liking.

Luffy noticed this and smirked. "How about five percent of Alvida's bounty, and I don't mention what you have in that sack over there to the Marines?"

"That's blackmail!" Nami gasped, a hand coming up to her chest as if she was about to have a heart attack, but she smirked at the other girl and nodded her head. "In that case, I should get going." She looked around as more of the sailors came out, then over the side of the ship out over the ocean towards a ship in the distance, shading her eyes. "There is a Marine ship already closing in on us, I guess the captain was telling the truth about them having a hotline to the nearest Marine ship. And I'd rather not answer any awkward questions."

"Excuse me…" said a timid voice, and both girls turned to the short pink-haired boy, who was looking a little worried now.

At the same time the Marine ship began to fire on them. Evidently they couldn't make out what was actually going on, and had simply assumed that destroying Alvida's pirate ship was more important than saving the possible hostages. _A typical Marine response_ Luffy thought disgustedly. _My grandpa would kick their asses for that_. "Yeah, what do ya want?"

"D, do you mind if I come with you? I wasn't part of Alvida's crew honest, it was just a mistake, I want to be a Marine, but it might…"

"Alright, alright whatever…" Luffy said as the explosions of water came closer to them while the Marine ship began to get its range. "Makino should've pulled our ship up on the other side of this pink piece of crap, take your stuff and get on it Nami, and you too I guess nerd boy."

"Coby," the boy said, tremulously but with feeling. "I've had enough of getting called names for a while."

Nami simply nodded, turning away rapidly grabbing up her sack of loot. Luffy nodded too, then turned and leaped up onto the air as easily as walking up a set of stairs, before reaching down and heaving Alvida's unconscious form into the air with her. Without another word she turned and hopped away towards the approaching ship, leaving Coby staring after her. "Wh, what is she?"

 **OOOOOOO**

The Marines gaped at the flying object coming towards him before several of them began to run around wildly shouting instructions. "Raise the cannons! Raise the cannons, incoming!"

"Don't!" Luffy shouted, holding up Alvida's body in front of them. "The pirates've already been beaten!"

Slowly as Luffy circled the ship the activity aboard it began to die down, or at least became less militant. Most of the crew were now staring at her, this short tomboy, who frankly looked more like she should be running around climbing trees, hopping around in midair hauling the far larger Alvida around like she weighed nothing at all.

"Are you a bounty hunter then?" The captain asked, pushing through the crowd. He was slightly larger than the rest of his crew and wider across the shoulders well, with a big prominent nose which looked as if he was getting over a cold and a mustache that looked almost alive as he glared up at Luffy.

"Yep," Luffy said chirpily, bouncing in place even more than she had to in order to stay in the air, which caused her chest to do interesting things, which in turn caused the Marines mind's to begin to melt. The number of women in the Marines was something like less than .5% if that, and Marines were almost as bad as pirates for staring.

After letting her bouncing do its work, she went on. "My names Ranko, and me and my partner, who's back there on our ship, we decided to take up bounty hunting. Alvida was the first one our list. Don't suppose you have the money for her right now would ya?"

"I can write you out a promissory note payable by any World Government bank." The Marine captain said, trying hard not to stare at Luffy's chest as it continued to bounce by concentrating on something far more important. "But how did you learn one of the Rokushiki?"

"Oh?" 'Ranko' said with a laugh, hopping down out of the air now to land lightly on the deck, Alvida's unconscious form slamming into the deck beside her. "You know about the Rokushiki? I had a friend who taught it me, well he didn't really teach me, he simply used them in front of me and I learned from that."

The captain stroked his mustache for a moment, frowning heavily his mind now able to focus on something other than the perky redhead. "Those techniques are not supposed to be used by anyone not associated with the World Government or the Marines. I don't think it's an actual law, but…"

'Ranko' shrugged, using the lie he/she had come up with for moments like this. "I might join the Marines myself eventually, though honestly I'm not certain it would be for me you know? I'm not exactly big on following rules. Still, I'll make that decision when I get to the Grand Line one way or the other."

The captain frowned then looked over at Alvida then over at the two ships still joined together in the distance. "Is her crew over there?"

"Yep, the sailors from the yacht're tying them up now. I knocked them all out during my fight with this fatso. I don't think her crew had time to do anything to the passengers, which means they should be safe now that you lot've stopped shooting at both ships."

Still pulling at his mustache the captain nodded slowly, ignoring 'Ranko's' rather biting criticism of his crew's action. "I won't make an issue of it then." He smiled at the short girl. "You do good work, and I'm certain if you do eventually join the Marines you'll be offered officer rank quickly. As an officer you have a lot more leeway with those rules you so disparage. Now, let me go write out that promissory note."

By the time 'Ranko' was finished with the Marines, Nami and Makino had moved the small, unnamed ship out of sight around the rock that the pirate vessel had previously used to hide itself. Nami wanted to be out of sight entirely as the Marine vessel continued on its way towards the two anchored ships. After all, she had stolen (or should that be re-stolen?) a lot of the treasure the pirates had just taken in this raid.

She and Coby both started when the redhead came out of the sky landing lightly on the ship whereupon she put her arms around herself and shuddered. "Unclean, unclean, **unclean**!"

Makino laughed shaking her head. "Does that mean I'll be doing all of our trading with Marines from now on?" Nami laughed too understanding where the girl was coming from while Coby merely blushed as Luffy moved towards the center cabin.

"God yes! Whoever thought the idea of putting 100 plus men on a ship without any women around was a good idea needs to be shot! Marines might not do much beyond looking but even that…" Luffy shuddered a little then began to put her hair up into a ponytail.

Coby hesitantly asked, "Um, I, I'm sorry to ask miss, but um, I didn't catch your name."

Cocking her head Luffy looked at the pink-haired boy then Nami thoughtfully. She then looked over to Makino, who shrugged, a small smile on her face. After a moment Luffy shrugged, then grinned brightly. "I'm Monkey D. Luffy, the man who will be the Pirate King! Damn I've always wanted to say that, feels good!"

Coby gaped at her while Nami stiffened looking between Luffy and Makino in confusion and rising anger. Despite this it was Coby who first replied, shooting to his feet fast enough to rock the small boat shouting. "Wha-what kind of nonsense are you spouting!? Do you even know what that means!?"

"It isn't nonsense, and I know exactly what it means." Luffy said, her grin still in place.

"B-but to become Pirate King you'd have to enter the pirates graveyard the Grand Line, an-and find One Piece!"

"Yep, that's sort of one of prerequisites to becoming Pirate King." Luffy's grin, which was already a little too wide to be normal, widened further somehow. "I'm looking forward to the challenge honestly."

"Impossible! Impossible, impossiblEOUCH!" Coby cut off with a cry as Luffy smacked him upside the head.

Luffy glared at him now, her grin gone. "Who are you to tell me what's impossible?" With a sigh she moved to squat in front of Coby, capturing the pink-haired boy's eyes with her own. "I know it's going to be tough. I know I'll face a lot of challenges along the way. I know I may die. And that's alright. That's my dream, and if I do die before I reach it, then that's fine by me."

Coby's eyes widened at the amount of belief in Luffy's voice.

But Luffy's attention was taken by someone nearby scoffing then trying to smash her head in with a staff. Luffy's hand flashed up catching the staff's end and she cocked her head at Nami. "Where the heck did you keep, oh, it's collapsible, clever."

"Thank you, wait no that's not the point!" Nami glared at the redheaded girl angrily. "You told me you were a bounty hunter! I'd never have gotten onboard this ship if you said you were a pirate from the start! I bet you even kidnapped poor Makino-san, or, or blackmailed her or something to make her join you!"

Makino had made an impression on Nami while Luffy was off dealing with the marines. She reminded Nami strongly of her older sister in some ways and her adopted mother Bellemere in others. She just couldn't see the green-haired woman willingly becoming a pirate.

"Well I'm a bounty hunter right now. After all, we need some money before heading to the Grand Line. And um, blackmailing? Makino's got more blackmail material on me than vice versa." Luffy laughed, her fist still clenched around the end of Nami's staff despite her best efforts to break Luffy's grip.

"Pictures of you from when you were young and got into trouble are not blackmail Luffy, they are simply memorabilia. Unless you're counting the pictures I have of that time Ace and Sabo dared you to dress up and act like a lady to see if you could help trick Sabo's ex-family. In which case, yes, that's blackmail material." Makino replied dryly, before looking at Nami and Coby. "He's telling the truth you know, his dream really is to be the Pirate King, and he really would be fine, or at least not sad if he died if he did so while trying to achieve it."

"And Nami-chan, I joined him because of my own reasons. There's a certain man I want to hunt down in the New World…" She trailed off, her face darkening noticeably as she began to chuckle evilly under her breath.

Nami and Coby recoiled and Luffy took the chance to pull Nami's staff out of her hands. "Yeah, she gets kind of scary when she's talking about he-who-shall-not-be-named." Moving over to a small heater she lit it and put a kettle on top before looking over at Nami. "So you have a problem with pirates, beyond the whole making a living by stealing from them thing?"

"Pirates are the scum of the sea of course I have a problem with them! They murder, steal, rape and ruin lives wherever they go!" Nami said, answering the question yet not giving any details, feeling vulnerable now without her staff and suddenly remembering that this slip of a girl had smashed an entire pirate crew and their reasonably well-known captain less than an hour ago with little apparent effort.

Luffy noticed this of course, but didn't comment. "Not all pirates are scum like that, but you're right, too many of them are. Those are the bastards who go to sea merely to become bandits, with their small ambitions of getting rich or taking what they want from other people. Those kind of pirates will never amount to anything because they don't have the conviction to drive them to better things. Do you have a dream?"

Nami blinked, thrown off by the sudden question. For some reason she nearly answered honestly before remembering that the girl in front of her was a pirate and stopping herself in time. But even so her face gave it away, and Luffy smiled at her. "A dream you'd give your life to achieve? That is what the Jolly Roger means to me and to the pirates who taught me what it really means to sail the seas under that flag. When you raise a jolly roger and declare yourself a pirate, you need to have a dream, and the conviction to take on the whole world to reach it! If you don't you're no better than bandits, scum of the sea and I'll crush any such I find!"

At the sheer force of Luffy's words Nami reared back slightly and Luffy smiled at her gently, giving the girl her staff back. "I won't try to pry or change your mind, but I don't really like it when people use bold labels like that, like all marines are good and all pirates are bad."

Coby had been staring at her in shock while Luffy spoke but now he spoke up hurriedly. "But marines **are** all good! They protect civilians from pirates, they uphold the laws and…"

"And they follow the World Government's orders good or bad and sometimes downright evil." Luffy cut him off harshly, her face darkening. "Worse, they allow slavery and uphold the rule of the Tenryubito, who are the most corrupt and vile examples of humanity that have ever existed."

Both Nami and Coby flinched back at that, but Makino, who had come out of her own anger, rested a slim hand on Luffy's shoulders. Luffy subsided but shook his head at Coby and Nami. "You can't just label any one group good or evil like that, that's all I'm going to say. Part of why I want to be Pirate King is to clean up the pirate name, or maybe to try and make the distinction between **real** pirates and scum of the sea, and to follow my own moral code. If I became a marine I couldn't, not if it didn't jive with my orders from the World Government or the marine's own HQ and their idea of 'Absolute Justice', another freaking label if ever there was one."

Nami frowned, but shook her head. "You're still a pirate, and that's enough for me. I'll navigate us to the nearest marine base but that's it, we'll go our separate ways there. If you're lucky, I won't oust you as a pirate when we get there, are we clear?"

"That's fine, though I'd still be open to making a deal with you as long we're operating as bounty hunters." Luffy said with a shrug. "I intend to hit up all of the bounties I can in a month before really raising my flag."

For a moment Nami was actually tempted but then shook her head. "No, you're still a pirate, and besides, Alvida was probably a lot weaker than she looked, you'll just get yourself killed somewhere."

She was surprised when Luffy and Makino both burst into laughter, shaking their heads at that but it was Makino who answered. "Heheheh, trust us Nami-chan, there's no chance of that happening."

"heh, yep. East Blue's known as the weakest of the five seas. The only pirates around here are small change or cowards who have given up after attempting the Grand Line." Luffy said, reaching down and touching the teapot, smiling as she felt it was hot enough before pulling off her shirt and tossing it aside.

"You do know there's a boy here right?" Nami said shaking her head at the girl's sudden bout of exhibitionism even as she took a moment to look at the shorter girl's body, nodding approvingly at what she saw even if the girl was a pirate. The girl didn't have her curves and given how short Luffy was she probably never would, but if there was an ounce of excess fat on that body Nami couldn't see it. There were a few scars including one major one on her side and Nami wondered about the history behind them, but had to approve of the general aura of toughness the girl gave off.

For his part Coby had blushed tomato red trying to tear his virgin eyes away but being unable to. His face went from red to white in an instant however when Luffy poured the water over her head, initiating the change. _I know I've made my female form a plus here, but that doesn't mean I'm not gonna smack Urd if I see her again._ Luffy thought to himself, snickering slightly even as she did, taking in Coby's reaction.

"Wh, what the hell!?" Nami shrieked, before putting her hand out to poke Luffy's now very flat, toned chest, blushing slightly but not overmuch. The boy suddenly standing in front of her was very good looking but it took more than a pretty face and a nice body to turn her head, not even counting the shock of watching the petite redhead change into a far taller boy.

If he had eaten the fruit that Shanks had found and showed him that one time Luffy would have been a short young man, barely taller than Nami herself with scant muscle tone and thin shoulders if little actual fat. But this would have been because of the Gum Gum fruit and a slight case of malnutrition, not because he lacked muscles or was genetically predisposed to be short. **This** Luffy stood 6' with decently wide shoulders, almost as wide as his older brother Ace's, with visible muscles though not quite to Ace's extent. He looked like an Olympic swimmer crossed with a martial artist, which was basically accurate, though the amount of strength in Luffy's frame was of course deceptive.

"You explain Makino, I need to change out of these pants, gah, forgot how tight they are in my normal body!" Luffy turned away, reaching down even as he did to try and relieve some of the pain.

By the time Luffy was back, Makino had finished her explanation and Nami was looking at Luffy in shock. Coby on the other hand had dunked his head over the side and seemed to be trying to drown himself. Luffy laughed evilly at that sight patting the pink-haired boy on his back. "Heh, that'll teach ya not ta start having thoughts like that about girls ya just met kid."

Nami turned to him, frowning thoughtfully, wondering where the straw hat Luffy was wearing now had come from and why he was wearing it since it didn't look to go with the long pigtail he was sporting now. "So, you're going to use your female form to do the bounty hunting, and this form to do the pirating? Have to say that makes sense but it doesn't change anything. I'm still leaving you at the next port."

"That's your choice Nami, I'm not going to make you stay with us. I wish you would, you seem quick on your feet and your navigating skills would make you a great fit with us. But again, I'm not going to make you stay with us."

Nami nodded, though still looked a little leery of Luffy. Luffy's general attitude was so open and friendly it threatened to throw her off but she'd had too many bad experiences with pirates to trust Luffy after so short a time. The fact she actually wanted to and wanted to see him as a friend despite that was worrying and actually helped keep her from letting her guard down further.

"Just remember, that the offer's open." Luffy went on. "And whatever problem you have with pirates, or maybe are still having, I'd be willing to help you out whatever it is."

"A-ano," Coby interrupted, pushing himself out of the water, his attempt to drown himself having failed miserably. "Lu-Luffy-san, are you sure you want to go to the nearest Marine base? Only, I overheard some of the pirates say that the pirate hunter Roronoa Zoro, a veritable demon of a man has been seen there, and the captain of that base is supposed to be very tough too. If you're outed as a pirate..."

"We have different definitions of tough Coby. As for Roronoa Zoro, I've heard about him too. Heh, if he's as tough as the rumors say, I might just recruit him for my crew…" Luffy said, then laughed at Coby's expression while to one side Makino was watching a now silent Nami closely, frowning in thought.

 **OOOOOOO**

Morgantown was a small coastal town built around a Marine base, which had been the reason for the town to exist in the first place, or so Nami said. Luffy was more interested in two things, one that Roronoa Zoro was here, and two, he'd be able to exchange his promissory note for actual cash.

It had taken them about a day's sailing to reach the port, during which time Luffy had gotten to know both Coby and Nami better. Nami was a nice girl, very, very bright and an independent, worldly sort, who seemed to get a kick out of Luffy, his curse and some of his jokes. In the brief moments she forgot he was a wannabe pirate anyway. Every time Nami remembered that, she would clamp up again.

Luffy liked her, her prickly, independent attitude appealed to him and she had a wicked sense of humor whenever she allowed it out. But it was obvious she had a major problem with pirates, despite, in his opinion, having the right temperament to make a fantastic pirate herself, above and beyond her disdain for anyone else's right to own property. It was clear she had something driving her, not just the need for money but something else, something underlying her sense of pride in her navigation skills, maybe even a dream like his own.

The fact Makino liked her too was a major plus. She was a really good judge of character so that counted for a lot.

Now, as Makino and Luffy began to furl the sail, Luffy looked over at Nami. "Damn, not only did you guide us straight here and predict that squall last night, but you were spot on with your prediction on how long it would take us to get here. That's pretty amazing Nami."

"Heh, well of course I was spot on, didn't I tell you, I'm the best darn navigator you'll ever meet." Nami said proudly, once again letting her guard down around Luffy and Makino.

"Just the kind of skill the navigator for the next Pirate King would need…" Luffy said leadingly, winking at her.

Nami actually blushed a bit at the wink for some reason, but shook it off quickly, shaking her head angrily at the way Luffy was so damn friendly and able to get under her skin like that. _Remember he's a pirate girl, they're all the same whatever his talk about dreams and conviction it all comes down to not caring about other people, using them and taking what he wants_. "No way! I told you I'd get you here, and that's my part of our bargain done."

She looked over at Makino, her hands busy as she did grabbing up the large sack of jewels and gold she'd taken from Alvida's ship, worth a little over four million beli she estimated. "Maybe we'll meet again if you realize that guy you're after isn't worth it Makino-san, or if you just want to ditch this fool."

"Oy, I resemble that remark." Luffy cut in, shaking his head. But Nami didn't reply, simply turning and jumping up onto the wharf, walking away without looking back.

Luffy looked after her frowning until Makino touched his shoulder, pushing him forward to help Coby tie the ship to the wharf. "She was fun, but everyone has their own reasons for doing and believing things. Don't pry."

"Wasn't about to," Luffy said with a shrug. "Just wondering what happened to her is all. Wondering doesn't cost me anything and doesn't hurt her either. But for now, we have our own stuff to take care of."

Makino nodded, and hopped up onto the deck easily, before they both turned to Coby. "Well we're here kid, you still sure about joining up with the Marines?"

The two of them had talked about this a few times, with Luffy pointing out how much the marines were merely government dogs in his words, testing the boy's convictions. But instead of disheartening the boy, Luffy was pleased that his arguments had simply made Coby more determined to join up and to make a difference.

The short boy nodded resolutely even though he was looking around strangely. "Yes! You convinced me, the marines might have issues, but they are still generally speaking a force for justice and law. Besides if I want to change things, I can do it better from the inside."

Luffy shrugged, and gestured him further down the wharf. "In that case, I can at least set you on the right path besides dropping you off here. Remind me to write you out a note, I have an… acquaintance in the marines who could help you."

Makino giggled behind her hand for a moment, looking between Coby and Luffy. "Are you thinking about an offering to a certain someone?"

"I don't know what you're talking about," Luffy said quickly, turning away leading the way down the wharf as Makino's giggles turned into full-blown laughter.

"Um, are you sure about this?" Coby asked as he caught up to Luffy.

"Sure about what shorty?" Luffy asked, exchanging a coin with an apple seller, tossing one to Makino and keeping one for himself after holding it out to Coby, who shook his head quickly.

"About recruiting that demonic bounty hunter."

"Rumors can be just another type of label kiddo, and I've already said I don't like those. I like a lot of what I've heard about Zoro..."

"AGHHH!" At the name Zoro every individual within hearing suddenly bolted away hiding themselves behind carts or in doorways.

"What the heck?" Luffy muttered looking around and sell for a moment as Makino did the same quizzically.

"You see!?" Coby said as the people began to move out of their hiding places, looking a little sheepish at their reaction. "The demon must've gone wild in the town for the people to get that big a reaction. I bet that's why Axe Hand Morgan had to lock him up."

"At the words 'Axe Hand Morgan; the people who'd just been crawling out of their hiding places ran back into them with even louder screams.

Luffy cocked his eyebrow at Coby. "Doesn't seem as if this Morgan fellow's popular. Well whatever, I told you I was going to make my own judgments, nothing you say is going to change that shorty."

"I don't know why a marine would get that kind of reaction, though I've heard rumors that Morgan is rather… regimented. Besides that, why do you keep on calling me kiddo or shorty, we're the same age Luffy-san." Coby muttered, shaking his head as he followed Luffy and Makino towards the Marine base on the other side of town from the wharf. It loomed about 10 stories tall, its presence dominating the town and the small island with ease. Having the word 'Marine' painted on it was a bit much in Luffy's opinion, but no one had ever said Marines were subtle. _Certainly not if Ji-Kure's touted as a hero among them for certain._

"Because you're short," Luffy said aloud, laughing. "Besides kid, despite your brief tenure as cabin boy and all around boot licker for Alvida, you don't actually have a lot of world experience. Hence, kiddo."

With that Luffy turned away, cocking his head to one side as a little girl came out of a bit of scrub brush along the side of the Marine base's outer wall carrying a ladder. She caught his eye, and put a finger to her lips and Luffy did the winking at her. She smiled at him but turned away quickly, putting the latter against the wall and climbing it, a small handkerchief tied up around something in one hand.

Behind him Coby and Makino noticed the girl too, and Coby raced forward. "Wait, don't!"

But he was too late. The girl had already pulled herself over the wall and dropped down on the other side. Luffy chuckled, jumping up easily and holding onto the side of the wall just so his eyes could peer over it, dangling there by his forearms. "I wonder what she's up to?"

"She can't just go in there, that's trespassing! She'll get in trouble!" Coby said, racing up the ladder and stopping himself just as Luffy had, looking over the wall. He blushed hotly when Makino moved up beside him, pressing him between her body and the wall to look over his head.

But what he saw in the courtyard below drove that sensation out of his head. Tied up to a target block was a human body. Or at first Coby thought it was a body, but then he saw the man raise his head to stare at the girl. He was wearing a green bandanna that cut covered almost its entire head, but even from here Coby could see the eyes, the eyes of the demon he thought, and when the man opened his mouth it seems to prove him right.

"What the hell ya want kid?" the man asked, his voice rough from disuse. "You want to die? Get out of here."

"Er, Zoro-nii, I made you some rice balls, I know the marines don't feed you so…" She looked down momentarily, toe digging into the dirt. "This is the first time I've made rice balls so-"

Makino giggled. "Oh, how cute."

"C-cute, she's trying to help a criminal, she, she might be killed!" Coby muttered in reply.

While the two of them had been speaking, Luffy had been looking at the man tied up, and the glare he was giving the girl then all around. Before he could say anything however Zoro spoke again. "Get out of here girl, I told you I'm not hungry!"

The girl began to tear up, "But, but you…"

"I said get out of here!" Zoro growled.

Before this little drama could go further, Luffy caught sight of someone coming out of the base. "Er Makino, is purple in this season or something?"

Both Makino and Coby looked, and Makino gagged in revulsion. Coming out of the base was a lanky young man with blonde hair done in a bowl cut and a purple suit. "Ugh, I don't think any suit could make that boy look good Luffy, but purple is definitely not his color."

Coby however breathed a sigh of relief seeing the young man and the two marines following him. "Good, the marines will protect that little girl. Hopefully she won't get in too much trouble."

"Protect her, from a man tied up like that?" Luffy asked dryly, shaking his head before falling silent as the newcomers approached the scene.

"Tch, that's about what anyone should expect of scum like you Roronoa Zoro, picking on little kids." The blond teen said, his voice high pitched and arrogant.

"Any particular reasons the captain's bastard son has decided to grace us with his presence?" Zoro growled, his hooded eyes locking on the purple clad teen like turrets.

"Bastard am I? Hah, my father's Captain Morgan Zoro, you should watch your tongue." The blond tsked, then turned reaching down to grab the onigiri the girl had made without even bothering to ask. "Heh, I have to confiscate nay food given to the prisoner, can't let him get ideas."

Biting into the rice ball despite the girl trying to stop him the blonde immediately made a face, spitting the bit out to one side before hurling down the rest of the onigiri into the dirt and stamping on it. "What the heck, sugar, blech, don't you know you put salt in onigiri!?"

"Wait, stop don't waste it like that you big meanie!" The girl tried to stop him only to be kicked away and the blonde continued to stamp her rice balls into the ground.

Makino and Coby both scowled at this, and Luffy's fingers twitched, his lips thinning into a dangerous scowl.

Finished with her rice ball the blonde reached out grabbing the little girl's face. "First sugar instead of salt and now tears? Stupid brat you shouldn't even be here, can't you read?" The blonde pointed to a sign stuck in the ground nearby facing marine compound's outer gate. 'Anyone caught aiding the prisoner will be charged with aiding him in his crime.' My dad's the big boss around here, and what he says goes! You wouldn't want to get in trouble with Axe Hand Morgan would you?"

Letting the girl go he shook his head. "If my old man had caught you might've have gotten the death penalty, but because I'm such a nice guy I'll let you go with a warning this time." With that he turned to one of the nearby marines. "You toss her over the fence."

"Wh, b, but sir, she's a little girl!" the marine replied, standing back quickly.

"Ehhh, are you actually questioning my orders, you do know who my dad is right, your captain!" The blonde douchebag grabbed him by the lapel of his shirt, nearly spitting into his face as he roared, or more accurately whined at him. "Do it soldier, or I'll report you, and you know what my father does to anyone who disobeys orders!"

The Marine backed away, hastily saluting. "Y-yessir, Helmeppo sir!" Reaching forward he grabbed up the little girl, whispering something the onlookers couldn't hear before turning and hurling her over the outer wall.

Luffy turned with the quickness of a snake leaping up and into the air. Catching the girl he somersaulted with her to land easily on his feet without even a bump. Looking down at the crying girl, he shook his head. "Here now, don't cry okay, you're a tough girl, right?"

The girl threw her arms around Luffy's neck, hiding the fact she was still sniffling slightly, but began to subside quickly. Makino hurried up to him, smiling at the little girl. "Good catch Luffy."

"I don't know," Luffy said smiling down at the little girl and winking at her before looking back at Makino. "She's a little small, and we've already met our quota for short people. I might have to toss her back."

The girl laughed wetly through her tears, and Luffy set her on the ground, gesturing to Makino. "Why don't you go with the pretty nee-san here back home little one, though I want to talk to you later okay?" The girl nodded, and took the older girl's hand, moving off quickly.

With that Luffy rejoined Coby at the wall with enough time to hear the weird blonde talk about some kind of deal Zoro had made with him. Then they watched as he walked off back into the building. Once the coast was clear Luffy leaped over the wall, making his way over to the tied up Zoro. "If anyone had talked to me like that they'd be eating their meals through a straw for the rest of their lives. Heh, I don't know if you're dumb or just trusting to have made a deal like that. Sure as hell strong though to go a month without food or water out here in the sun."

Zoro frowned, staring at the odd youth who stood there without a care in the world, looking as if he was just out for a stroll. But Zoro was a swordsman so he could see the training the boy had gone through in how he stood and his body type. "This is nothing, a mere challenge. If I couldn't face this, I wouldn't have the willpower necessary to fulfil my dream."

Cocking his head Luffy stared at Zoro, smirking. "Heh, I like that attitude, and those eyes of yours, the determination in them, you're not just saying that." His smirk widened into a grin. "Roronoa Zoro, I want you to join my pirate crew."

"No." Zoro replied bluntly. "I have no desire to become a criminal, get out of here punk."

"Oh, so you're a law abiding citizen are you?" Luffy laughed.

"No, but neither do I go out of my way to break the law, steal, cheat or murder."

"I feel like I'll be saying this a lot, but that isn't what real pirates are. Pirates, real pirates have dreams they want to fulfill, or simply are people unwilling to stay in the mold society has for them. Real pirates just want to be free, and their dreams aren't for trinkets or blood or anything like that, but for bigger things." Luffy sighed, shaking his head. "Well, whatever, I'm going to be here for a while anyway, so you still have time to change your mind."

"Wait!" Zoro called out as Luffy made to turn away. "That onigiri. Can you pick it up for me?"

"Er, it's mostly a dirt ball now man, that Helmey guy really did a number on it." Luffy said, not commenting on the swordsman apparently being willing to take this little bit of aid despite his deal with Helmeppo.

"Baka, like I care, just give it to me, I'll eat it." Luffy did so, and watched, a smirk on his face until Zoro was finished. Swallowing with a visible effort Zoro looked away, muttering, "'It was delicious,' tell her that."

Luffy chuckled and turned away without another word. Back in town, Luffy and Coby found Makino at the local bar, which was apparently owned by the little girl's family. Her name, it turned out, was Rika, and she definitely had a small case of hero worship when it came to Zoro for some reason.

Her face lit up when Luffy told her Zoro had eaten the onigiri she'd made which made Makino and her mother, who seemed to get along, smile. "Really, he liked it!?"

"Yep, he even said it was delicious." Luffy replied.

"I, I just don't understand this." Coby muttered, not looking at Luffy who was smirking at him. "I mean, isn't Zoro supposed to a demon in human form? All the rumors about him say he's a brutal killer, a monster who frightens everyone he meets."

"NO!" Rika screamed, as her mother shook her head sadly from behind the bar.

"What've I said about labels like that Coby? And ya should never believe rumors like that, they always get distorted the further away from the person they are." Luffy reached out, ruffling Rika's hair soothingly. "Now, why don't you tell us what happened between Zoro and baka blonde."

Rika and her mother both burst into giggles at Luffy's nickname for Helmeppo while Makino simply shook her head. After a moment however Rika looked up at Luffy, shaking her head. "Nisan never did anything wrong! That, that baka blonde had a wild dog which he always let round town to frighten people. It came in here and started scaring everyone then attacked me when I tried to stop it, but Zoro-nii sliced it up! Then baka blonde threatened to have me and mommy executed for it, but Zoro made a deal with him to save us."

Rika's mother cut in here. "Helmeppo is Captain Morgan's son and everyone's too afraid of Morgan to do anything about their tyranny. He orders everyone around marina and civilian like were his subordinates, and if we don't obey him we're flogged at best! I've lost neighbors because they refused to pay his increased taxes."

She came around the bar to put an arm around her daughter who looked as if she was about to cry. "A, and now nii-san's starving every day out there in the sun, and Helmeppo punches and kicks him, he even orders the marines to do it when he gets tired. I hate both of them, father and son."

Luffy nodded, looking over at Coby who looked as if his entire world view had just been crushed and tossed into the trash. He was somewhat sad for the boy, but if he wanted to join the marines, Luffy felt Coby would need to realize what they were like, warts and all. Yes, the marines could be a fantastic force for good, but it all depended on the marine in question. _If his ambition is strong enough to survive this, he'll be a better man for realizing it now, but if he can't, then that's all it was._

Just then the door slammed open then and the purple-wearing blonde buffoon himself walked in sneering at all and sundry as his two bodyguards followed him. "Damn, I'm hungry, hey woman we'll be eating here for free and bring out the booze, the good stuff!

As Rika's mother hurried to obey and Luffy cocked his head thoughtfully to one side his fingers beginning to twitch, Helmeppo turned to Rika, his sneer becoming even larger as he looked between her and her mother. "Oh, and since I'm bored, I've decided to execute Zoro tomorrow. Look forward to it!" With that he laughed loudly, throwing is head back as if he had just told the funniest

 _Right, that's about enough._ Luffy stalked forward, his hat over his eyes, and suddenly giving off a very different vibe than his normal happy-go-lucky feeling. The few other people in the restaurant moved out of his way without even seeming to realize it, and the two marines behind Helmeppo tensed. Coby did too at first, but then his face firmed and he simply watched as Luffy moved. Rika's mother, who had looked horrified, made to say something but Makino put her hand on the older woman's shoulder, shaking her head.

Before the two Marines escorting him could move, Luffy was in front of Helmeppo. The blonde had just a moment to realize someone was in front of him before Luffy's fist smashed into his face with enough force to send the blonde head over heels backwards through the door behind him, shattering it and taking his two marine guards with him into a heap outside on the road.

"Well, time to take out the trash." Luffy mused, his words and tone not matching his angry expression as he moved out after his victim.

The two marines were both unconscious having slammed into both the door and the road, but their bodies had cushioned Helmeppo somewhat. His face was a mass of bruises, his nose splattered across it, but he was still able to talk, or at least squeal, his pain and his nose muffling his words further. "Whosh, whosh the hell're ya, I'sh Captain Morgan's son, you'sh'll be 'xecuted for shis!"

Luffy looked down at him contemplatively holding up a fist, but Coby grabbed him around the arm, trying to keep him from doing so and Luffy scowled letting his fist fall. "That'd be a waste of a good punch." He reached down, chopping at the necks of the two marines making certain they would stay down, before grabbing Helmeppo. "Makino, why don't ya head over to the bank? I'm going to go free Zoro and get him to join our crew."

Moments later Luffy walked off dragged the idiot son behind him, ignoring Coby's protests and even Makino shaking her head at him. She didn't try to stop him though, and indeed held Coby back when he made to follow Luffy, urging him to tie up the two marines.

Once he reached the marine base Luffy stared down at the blubbering blonde then wound up his arm before hurling him up to land on the top of the large building. Even from here he heard the crash as the blonde's body slammed into the roof, though it was followed quickly by shouting.

Ignoring that Luffy hopped up, kicking off the air and moving towards where Zoro was still tied up. Still tied to the target block, Zoro turned from looking up at the top of the marine base wondering what had happened to stare at Luffy hopping in midair, his eyes widening in shock as his mouth dropped open. "How the hell are you doing that?"

Luffy laughed, shaking his head grimly, momentarily derailed. "It's just a technique, anyone can learn it and its' fellows if they put in the effort. If this surprises you, you really are a frog at the bottom of a well."

"What do you mean by that?" Zoro growled, getting over his surprise and becoming angry at the insult.

"The real world is a lot stronger than anything around here."

Zoro laughed now, losing some of his anger as he smirked fiercely at Luffy. "It doesn't matter. I have a dream, if I die on the way to achieving that dream, so be it."

"I really do like those eyes of yours Zoro." Luffy said, before shaking his head. "Unfortunately for your pride, Helmeppo was just boasting about how he was going to have you killed this afternoon because he, and I quote was 'getting bored'."

"What!?" Zoro shouted angrily. "We had a deal!"

"I don't think he cares. You challenged him and his daddy-given authority, so he's going to have you killed." As Zoro began to strain at his ropes Luffy smirked. "So I want to make a deal with you Zoro. If I get you out, you join my pirate crew."

Zoro stared up at him and they locked gazes, intensity against intensity before Zoro laughed loudly. "You really are a pirate! Very well I'll join your crew! But know this: my dream is more important to me than my life! If you get in the way of my dream I will not hesitate to cut you down!"

"And what's your dream?" Luffy asked, not taking umbrage at the threat.

"To be the greatest swordsman in the world!"

"Hah, That's a great dream, one worthy of the first mate of the future pirate king."

Zoro stared at him then laughed again just as loudly as he had a second ago. "Dreamers together then!"

Luffy nodded with a smile. "Together we're going to change this world whether it wants to be changed or not. Now, where's your sword?"

"No idea, they're somewhere in the base. That blonde moron took them from me when I surrendered."

"Dammit, now I'm sorry I threw him like I did." Luffy muttered, scratching under his straw hat for a moment. "Well whatever, I suppose there are worse ways of starting my pirate career then smashing a Marine base. I'll be right back." With that Luffy walked off towards the entrance to the marine base, whistling under his breath.

Roronoa looked after him then began to chuckle. As he watched Luffy once again leaped into the air scaling up the sky next to the Marine base as if he was simply walking up a staircase. "What the hell kind of pirate have I joined up with?"

 **OOOOOOO**

"I'sh don' know, I'sh don' know, shhe last thing I'sh 'emember wassh getting; punched in the resheteraunt in town!" Helmeppo blubbered then shrieked in terror as his father lifted up his hand to smash Helmeppo again, hopefully with the back of the axe though seeing the expression on Captain Morgan's face the onlookers weren't willing to make any bets on that.

Morgan was a massive man, as tall as Alvida had been with a weight lifter's build and an axe where one hand should be along with a lower jaw made of an iron hinge. Morgan's look, his axe, his cruelty and his rank were enough to keep the marines in line.

He had taken a hands-off approach to his son before, not really caring what the brat did so long as he was out from underfoot, something all the Marines thought was part of the reason why Helmeppo acted like such a brat. But Morgan hadn't cared so long as whatever happened to his son couldn't be construed as an attack on his authority. Even now it wasn't his son's treatment that had enraged Morgan, it was the fact that upon falling out of the sky, Helmeppo had smashed Morgan's large stone statue the marines had been in the putting up on top of the marine base.

Hurling his son aside Morgan turned to the marines all around him. "Get a troop together and head to that tavern, find whoever punched my son! They must've been the same one to throw him up here!"

"That's right," said cheerfully voice, and then Morgan turned only to eat a dull Rankyaku to the chest, hurling him backwards into the marines behind him. To Luffy's surprise however he didn't seem to be that injured, shrugging the blow off as if it had simply been a normal punch.

The confusion of his sudden appearance still allowed Luffy to land next to Helmeppo, whereupon he grabbed him up by the neck. "You, come with me."

Luffy ducked under a slash from the man with the axe embedded in his hand, rolling forward into the stairwell still carrying the Helmeppo behind him. "I'll be back to deal with you later," Luffy said over his shoulder, leaping down the stairwell to land lightly on the next level and race off.

Luffy didn't want to take out the entire marine base if he could help it a lot of marines were good people, if far too quick to simply follow orders from higher up rather than do their own thinking. He also wanted to see how good Roronoa really was. He'd heard a lot of rumors, but as Luffy had told Coby, he wanted to make his own impression of the man, not just his personality but his skill.

"Now," he said holding up the blonde son. "Where do you keep Roronoa's sword?"

 **OOOOOOO**

Roronoa was still staring at the Marine base wondering what the hell Luffy was, and where the heck you could learn a technique which would let you walk on air Luffy had said that it was a technique which meant Zoro could possibly learn it, and maybe others if that wasn't the only one in Luffy's bag of tricks. Indeed, Roronoa was thinking that maybe joining up with Luffy might be a good idea, not just because it would get him, but also for how learning from him could help him achieve his ambition.

He looks down however when a pink head appeared over the wall and began to run towards him. "What are you doing kid?" Roronoa asked.

"Getting you out of here!" Coby said almost angrily. "I might not like Luffy's methods, but he's right, this isn't the kind of Marine I want to be! Going back on your word, tying up a person who was just defending a little girl, ignoring the law and justice! I refuse to stand by and let Morgan and his son drag the marine name into the ground. If I did, how could I ever be believe in the justice the marines are supposed to believe in, how could I become a marine myself if I let this pass!?"

"So he was telling the truth," Roronoa muttered, even as he smirked at the other boy's attitude. "That blond idiot was really going to have me killed regardless of our deal?"

"Yes! He said he was getting tired of waiting for you to die on your own." Coby said bitterly.

"Then hurry up get me loose, that bastard's got a date with my fist coming!"

Unfortunately, Coby's pink hair had betrayed him, catching the eye of captain Morgan, who was still on the roof of the marine base exhorting his men into the fortress to chase Luffy down. Snarling he gathered some of his men, charging down the stairs and out into the courtyard, pausing only to let them grab up several dozen rifles.

Standing with his men lining up into a firing squad aiming towards the prisoner and the boy helping him Morgan bellowed out his fury. "One after another, all of you questioning my authority, acting against me! I am a Marine captain, my authority, my rank is everything! You a mere civilian try to go against me!? The punishment for disobeying me is death! I'd hoped to wait to gather the townsfolk for your execution Roronoa, but you and your little helper can die together right now! Marines, prepare to fire."

"Is this where I am going to die?" Roronoa said to himself, even as Coby frantically tried to untie one of his arms. Roronoa could tell he wouldn't make it though. "Is this where I'm going to die, is this all my dream was worth?" _Kuina…_

"Fire!"

The muskets fired, but before they hit their target Luffy landed between Coby, Roronoa and the firing troops, his arms outstretched shouting "Tekkai!" His hands moved then flickering out of sight to most eyes, smacking away the musket balls going wide of his body even as the rest of them hit him square on. But the Tekkai technique did its work, the bullets bouncing off as if they had hit, yes, iron.

Even Luffy's fingers were covered with the technique, protecting them from the slight bruising he'd get from deflecting the bullets. The musket balls went into the air or down into the ground as his hands continued flickering in and out of sight smacking them one after another.

As the smoke cleared, the marines saw what happened, and stared in shock as did Morgan. Roronoa too stared shaking his head. Then he began to laugh, ripping the ropes that Coby had been loosening out from around one arm now that Coby had loosened them enough to give Zoro some leverage before pulling out his other arm in turn. Cracking his neck explosively Zoro stretched for the first time in weeks. "Freedom feels good! So, is that another technique of yours?"

Luffy looked over his shoulder smirking at the slightly older boy. "Yep, Tekkai. Another technique I'll be teaching my crew, you interested?"

"I don't know," Roronoa said with a grin as he stared past Luffy at the shocked and fearful Marines. Even Morgan seemed stunned. His lips still curled into a almost vicious grin, he turned his attention back to Luffy and asked seriously, "You have my swords?"

"Baka blonde fell asleep before I could ask him which was yours so I just grabbed all the swords he had in his room." So saying Luffy held a trio of swords over his shoulder. One of them was clearly not like the others, and Luffy determined to ask Roronoa later about that one. He didn't know much about swords, but having dealt with Kuno for so long along with a few other swordsmen both as Ranma and as Luffy he knew **quality** when he saw it. Luffy had even learned some actual sword techniques along the way.

"All of them are mine, I use Santoryu."

Luffy turned to face him fully, staring as Zoro pulled off the ropes around his feet. "Three swords? How the heck do you, you know what, never mind. With my life, I'm sure not in a position to throw stones at the strangeness of others."

By this point Morgan had roused himself from his shock and put some spine in his troops. Half of them pulled out swords and charged as the others fell back to reload their muskets. Seeing this behind Luffy's shoulder, Zora reached out quickly, snatching all three of the swords out of their scabbards before racing past Luffy towards the approaching marines faster than most could see. A growl of "Tatsumaki!" left his clenched teeth, and a very small tornado appeared, slamming through and throwing the Marines this way and that. None of them were injure much, but they were surely out of the fight for now.

Seeing this, Luffy smirked. "Nice job Zoro."

Pulling the katana in his mouth Zoro smirked at him. "You're welcome Captain. But about that one?" He asked, jerking his head towards Morgan and the marines who hadn't charged with their fellows.

"I've got this." Luffy said, a pure Ranma-style Smirk™ on his face as he pushed his straw hat up with one finger, moving to stand in front of Morgan.

Morgan glowered down at him, hurling his captain's cloak to one side before bringing his axe down in a fast slash towards Luffy's head. "Don't get a bit head just because you have some tricks under you're sleeve brat! Anyone who stands against my authority will die!"

Luffy laughed even as the ax came down. Reaching up he grabbed the axe by its edge, catching it between his fingers. Try as he might Morgan couldn't wrench his axe free from the younger man's grip. In another lifetime Luffy/Ranma might have toyed with his opponent by dodging around, getting a feel for his skill before dispatching him. But not in this life. "Authority? I'm the man who will be the Pirate King, I don't care about your authority! You marines are supposed to stand for justice, but you don't know the meaning of the word! You trample on people's freedom like Zoro or Rika and the others here, on Coby's dream! Scum like you are the ones I love to crush the most!"

With that Luffy twisted his wrist. There was a sound of screaming metal as the axe head shattered, and Morgan fell back in shock. Even as he did so that he tried to punch out, only for Luffy to counter with his own punch, the two fists impacting between them.

"GAAHH!" Morgan fell to his knees screaming in pain as his fingers and all the bones in his hand crushed under the force that blow. "Wh, why you!" Morgan bellowed trying to get to his feet only to see another punch coming in, crashing into is metal jaw shattering it just like his axe and laying Morgan out unconscious.

Luffy lifted up his bloody fist, some of Morgan's bones actually having ruptured his skin under the impact. Ignoring the blood he stared at the Marines all around them. "Anyone else?"

Their response surprised him. The marines all started shouting, cheering the Morgan had been beaten. Apparently even his own troops hadn't liked Axe Hand Morgan, they just hadn't been willing to go against him. Luffy didn't like their attitude really, but he had other things on his mind. "Hey Coby, you still want to be a marine?"

Called out like this in a crowd of marines, Coby nodded his head quickly. "Yes!"

"Good!" Luffy said nodding his head, glad the kid's dream had survived running into the Morgans. Seeing a sergeant and figuring he was the ranking Marine here he moved through the crowd, putting an arm over the older man's shoulders. "Hey, I got a favor to ask you. I want to use your den-den mushi…"

 **OOOOOOO**

Nami groaned aloud, thumping her closed fist into the wall above the secret safe in Axe Hand Morgan's office. She had expected to find a map to the Grand Line here, but the only thing inside the safe was a small note saying it had already been taken, along with a very distinct symbol.

"Buggy the Clown," she muttered, shaking her head. "That's a bigger name than I want to tangle with but if it gets me the map to the Grand Line, one step closer to getting the money I need…"

Staring off into the distance Nami paused for a moment then shook her head resolutely pushing herself to her feet before glancing out the window and sweatdropping at what she saw there. Outside Luffy stood over the body of Captain Morgan as the Marines, for some reason, began to cheer, shooting their muskets or throwing their caps up into the air. "Um…huh…"

 **OOOOOOO**

"That was a great meal!" Roronoa shouted, leaning back in his chair, downing half a tankard of ale before slamming it down next to the remains of his fifth plate of food. Strangely enough he had drunk about two dozen tankards of ale along with his meal. "Not having eaten for so long, I really put it away didn't I?"

"I would say so." Luffy drawled, smirking at the other young man, who smirked back at him. Luffy's own plate had been piled high originally, but he wasn't nearly as starved as Zoro. Still, one thing hadn't changed from his old life to this one: Luffy/Ranma still enjoyed a good meal.

"I ate some too," Coby muttered, holding up his empty plate sheepishly. "Though I honestly don't think I did anything helpful here."

"You tried and that's the important thing." Luffy said nodding his head at the younger boy before turning to Rika's mom, smiling politely at her. "I can't thank you enough for feeding us miss, are you sure you don't want money?"

"Not at all!" the woman replied cheerfully, looking up from her conversation with Makino to her daughter then Luffy and Zoro. "You really saved this town you know, it's the least we can do."

"You're so strong Nii-san!" Rika said, grinning at him.

Beside Luffy Zoro chuckled quietly. "Some pirate," he muttered, reaching over to smack Luffy on the shoulder. "So Captain, where's the rest of this crew I'm joining?"

"You're looking at it," Luffy gestured towards Makino and himself. As Zoro gaped at him he said "We're rather early into the recruitment phase just now."

Zoro laughed again shaking his head. "Alright, then tell me more about these techniques of yours. How long does it take to learn them, and can any of them be used with swords?"

"Two of them are applicable to sword combat, though you'll have to learn the others first just to build up your arm and leg muscles. We'll talk about them more once we get a real ship. I have a set of weights that you'll be needing to use, but for the most part it's just repetition…"

Luffy paused speaking when the door to the restaurant opened admitting several marines with the sergeant at their head. "Good day. I am sorry to interrupt, you saved both us and this town from Morgan's tyranny, and I truly wish we didn't have to do this, but regulations are clear: we cannot allow you to stay here any longer. We won't tell HQ anything about you, but you can't stay here any longer."

The other people in the restaurant, which was packed with well-wishers, shouted in fury at the marines who they had seen as part of the problem for far too long. But Luffy shook his head, gesturing Makino and Zoro to follow him. "That's fine we were about to leave anyway, I don't want to be here shortly."

"Wait, Luffy you didn't…" Makino said, staring at the younger boy, then paling as he nodded. She quickly grabbed up a pack of foodstuffs Rika's mother had prepared and made for the door. "Right, yes moving on is a very good idea!"

"I don't know what you're worried about Makino, you'd just bat those eyelashes of yours and get out of trouble like you always do." Luffy said with a laugh causing Zoro to shake his head. Obviously there was more to this conversation than what he was hearing.

For his part Coby looked torn, not wanting to act like he was friends with pirates in front the other marines, thinking he had gotten away with helping Zoro earlier without anyone realizing he was with Luffy, but also wanting to say goodbye to his sort-of friend. After all, Luffy had not only freed him from Alvida, but had encouraged his dream even while forcing Coby to realize the marines might not be perfect.

His hesitation didn't save him from being noticed this time however. Just as Luffy and the others reached the door the sergeant pointed at Coby. "Wait, isn't this boy with you?"

Luffy stopped, looking over his shoulder with a grin. "Nope, I forced him to navigate us here after coming on his dingy out at sea. He'd lost his sails but apparently was coming here to join the marines anyway. He was just saying that he still wants to be a marine too, even after seeing Morgan in action, can you believe that? Or that a little weakling like him could ever amount to anything?"

"You shut up!" Coby shouted, jumping to his feet and pointing at Luffy. "I'm going to be a marine, a marine who fights for True Justice, and when I become a marine admiral I'm going to catch you Luffy!"

Staring between them, the sergeant didn't look convinced, but at Luffy's sudden wink his way he nodded. He had, after all, overheard the call Luffy had sent out over the den den mushi. "Very well, we'll see what we can do with him."

With that he stood aside and he and the other marines all saluted as Luffy, Makino and Zoro walked past them. "Once again, thank you pirate scum!"

Luffy and his crew of two laughed at that, leaving quickly as Coby watched them go with decided mixed feelings.

Two hours later Coby had been fitted out with a uniform and had been put to work helping to clean up the roof of the marine base, shoveling parts of Axe Hand Morgan's statue over the side to a prepared area. As such he was one of the first to see a marine galleon sail over the horizon. Turning he shouted down into the interior of the base. "Sirs, there's a marine galleon incoming, it has a large dog's head on the prow!"

About an hour later Coby joined the rest of the marines in the base lining up for inspection as an admiral, a man standing taller than Morgan, trooped into the base. For some reason he stopped right in front of Coby, staring at him thoughtfully. "So you're the boy my brat of a grandson says I should train huh? Well, we'll see. If you can survive my lessons you might just make up for my brat of a grandson becoming a pirate."

 **OOOOOOO**

At the same time Coby met the man who would make his life a living hell in the name of training for the next several years, Makino was once again trying to navigate their ship towards their target using what she had already known and the directions she had gotten in town. She was aiming for a town called Orange Town, which had a small scale shipyard. She and Luffy had called them before they left Fuchsia in order to purchase a larger vessel, a caravel which could house six or seven people comfortably.

Neither of them were very fussy about a ship at this point, but they needed one that could at least survive for a while at sea, which their little sloop couldn't. Luffy knew that they'd have to get a permanent ship eventually, and had talked with his brothers about it before they had set out to sea. He'd even brought it up once with his grandfather, and knew precisely where he was going to get one once they were in the Grand Line. Until then though, he'd buy or even steal ships as they went.

"So where are we going exactly?" Zoro asked, the only one who didn't know yet. He wasn't able to make heads or tails of the directions that Makino was muttering to herself underneath her breath between ordering Luffy around as if she was the captain while he worked the sails. _But then again,_ Zoro thought to himself amused, she _seems to be the cook too, so I suppose that makes her just as important as the captain anyway._

"Orange Town, Makino and I ordered a ship from them. Hopefully they'll have a World Government bank there, so we can change the promissory note I got for this pirate I turned over to some marines a bit ago. But if not, they'll surely know where we can find one." At Zoro's confused look, Luffy explained how he had captured Alvida and turned her over to the marines.

Makino nodded, looking immensely irritated. "I can't believe that Morgan was able to get away with shutting down the World Government bank like that, and then to empty all of their money into the Marine base's own vault to pay for some stupid statue!? Someone should've caught that somewhere shouldn't they?"

"You'd think so, but the World Government is so corrupt who'd notice a little more way out here?" Luffy said with a shrug. "Frankly, Morgan's probably closer to their ideal of Marines than Ji-Kure."

"Your grandfather? Why do you call him Ji-kure?"

"His training methods." Makino and Luffy replied in unison.

"Trust me," Makino went on, laughing. "I've seen the aftermath of some of his training ideas, and to say they're insane would be to put it lightly. Tossing Luffy into a den of hungry tigers, hurling him off balloons in midair, tying him up and covering his eyes and ears before forcing him to find his way back through a jungle…" she said counting off on her fingers.

"Tying one arm behind my back and forcing me to fight one of my brothers, don't forget those. Though I'll say those **were** sort of fun." Luffy mused. "The others… not so much."

Zoro frowned thinking they were having him on, but when he realized they weren't he shook his head. "That's kind of crazy, but I agree that having to learn how to solely use one hand or the other would make good training. The rest I agree with you Luffy, 'not so much'. But what's his name? And is that why the Marines let you access their base's den den mushi?"

"Yep," Luffy said with a laugh. "As for his name, his name's Monkey D. Garp. Ever heard of him?"

Zoro gaped at him, then began to laugh shaking his head. "The moment I think I know exactly how crazy this crew is, you just add more to it!"

Makino laughed in turn and, deciding the moment was just too perfect she reached over the side of the boat to splash Luffy before he could move. The now wet redhead glared at her and Makino turned back to Zoro with a smirk. "We have only begun to break your mind."

Zoro eyes widened as he gaped at the redhead sitting where Luffy had just been before slowly reaching out a finger towards his chest. "Those cannot be, what just..."

"Hands off." Luffy said grabbing Zoro's hand in a vice-like grip. _What the hell man, why is that everyone's first response when they see my curse. Nabiki, Ukyo, Shampoo, Ace, Sabo, now Zoro! Geez._

"It's a curse, something happened to me when I was a baby, something involving someone else's Devil Fruit power. Yes Devil Fruits are real, I've seen one in action. Now whenever I get splashed I change genders. My mind doesn't change yes it is a full body change but I'm not attracted to guys, never have been, never will. And if you try to touch me again I will kick your balls up through your mouth."

"Duly noted," Zoro replied with a shudder leaning back quickly. He frowned thoughtfully after a moment, narrowing his eyes as he stared at the redhead. "But doesn't that get in the way of your dream?"

"Are you one of those men who don't think that women can fight?" Makino asked archly, one hand reaching towards a handgun Zoro suddenly realized had been hanging from her skirt's belt all along.

Zoro looked away. "No, not really... My sword master, he was, and he had trained his daughter to think it, but she was… she was strong, a lot stronger than me…" He looked away, and the two could tell there was a story there.

As Makino began to heat some water for Luffy to change back, the redhead looked at Zoro thoughtfully. "So, your dream of being the greatest swordsman isn't just for yourself is it, you're carrying someone else's dream alongside it?"

Zoro whipped his head around to stare at the redhead, then nodded slowly.

"That should add all the more weight to those swords. That white one in particular, I'm not a swordsman, but I know quality when I see it." Luffy went on, jerking her head toward the katana in question.

"Yeah," Zoro said, tapping the white hilt. "This was hers, and yeah, I do carry more than my own dream with me."

"Then we begin training tomorrow." Luffy said firmly smirking evilly at him.

But as she had partially expected Zoro came out of his somber mood matching him with his own smirk, his eyes glinting eagerly. "I'll take anything you can dish out."

He would later regret those words.

That 'later' came the next day, as Luffy was working on the sails Makino oversaw Zoro's training, over 20,000 squats with the weights that Luffy had supplied. "We're starting with the largest weights Luffy was using before we left Fuchsia, so you don't have to do as many squats as he had to do in the beginning. I honestly don't know how many he had to do in the beginning to get his legs strong enough to use the Geppo maneuver for the first time, he could already do that when he met me. Luffy?" Makino asked looking over at the younger boy.

Luffy shrugged. "No idea. A lot I'd say, I remember I started the morning and finished after lunch most days, so at least five hours straight through. The amount of time I spend in the hospital after exercising like that was only about half of that I think."

"Oh that's so reassuring!" Zoro muttered, but he continued the exercises, grunting between words. "You, huff, want to, huff, teach me, huff, Geppo first. I get, huff, why if, huff, we're going to be, huff, fighting on the ocean, huff, but what's next after this?"

"We'll apply the same training to your arms, so you can launch wind attacks with your swords. You already can do small scale stuff like that tornado attack of yours I noticed, but you can do a lot more damage with more strength and more control of where the wind pressure goes."

Luffy finished rigging up the sails to Makino satisfaction and moved over to the swords lying next to Zoro tapping one of them, though not the white blade, with a finger. "You mind?"

Zoro shook his head, still continuing his squats. Luffy pulled out the blade, looking at it thoughtfully. "Definitely not as good as the white blade, though I will say that isn't exactly a surprise given that one's quality. Still…"

With that he turned quickly, whipping up the sword in a quick draw technique flashing it forward across the waves. A white line of force extended from his swing slicing into the ocean, dissipating slowly. "That," Luffy said gesturing to the attack, "could have cut through wood, or even low-grade iron. I'd have to try harder to cut steel."

"Cut steel," Zoro mused, then grinned, his eyes lighting up eagerly. "Sounds like a target for me I suppose."

"True, but remember strength without skill is simply barbarism."

Zoro nodded seriously looking at his new Captain. He could tell that there were some other things that Luffy knew, he wasn't entirely unused to the technique of showing just enough to motivate someone rather than too much and discouraging them. "Have you been to the Grand Line?" he asked bluntly. "Where would you rate yourself?"

"The Rokushiki are a Marine only school of combat for the most part." Luffy said obliquely. "I know some other skills, but they're a good starting point. As to where I'd rate myself?" Luffy frowned thoughtfully, scratching at his chin. "I'd say I'm at least at a Commodore's level in Marine terms? Maybe a little higher? Not certain, though I know that no one in East Blue is going to match me."

"Arrogance comes before a fall," Zoro muttered still doing his squats. "How are you so sure about that?"

Makino giggled quietly. "Before we left, Garp and I were still talking over the den den mushi. Garp isn't very happy about some things going on here in East Blue and he knew that whatever he thought Luffy was going to become a pirate. But that didn't mean that Luffy was going to change his nature~~." She teased.

"All right so I've got a bit of a protecting people thing, sue me!" Luffy said with a shrug. He looked over at Zoro seriously. "I'll smash any pirate who goes around preying on normal people I meet and there are more than a few like that here in East Blue."

"So Garp informed Makino who was here, sneaky old man, thinking you'd clean them up for him." Zoro said with a bloodthirsty smirk of his own. "That mean the Marines won't bother us for a while? So long as were cleaning up other pirates anyway?"

"Ji-Kure doesn't actually have that much influence here, he's not assigned to East blue after all he just sails through sometimes. But, with my other form, we can at least get some bounties."

"Fine by me, more money equals more booze." Zoro said bluntly.

"Freaking alcoholic." Luffy retorted with a chuckle.

"Don't knock it till you try it." Zoro shot back.

"Please no!" Makino broke in quickly. "The one time I've seen Luffy get drunk is something I won't forget no matter how hard I try."

"Wait, what?" Luffy asked, turning to her. "What happened when I was drunk? When did I get drunk?"

"You're better off not knowing." Makino said shuddering as she remembered that night. "Let's just say that you, Ace and Sabo had a bit too much destructive-type fun and let it go at that."

"Oh, now you've got me interested." Zoro said grinning even as he continued his squats.

The three of them continued their voyage for two days getting to know one another as they did with Zoro fitting in remarkably well with the two of them. At first he was worried that he was going to be a third wheel, but after only a bare few hours at sea he realized that he wasn't getting that vibe from Luffy and Makino. It was definitely more of a brother/sister relationship. Occasionally it was an older brother/younger sister or younger brother/older sister, it varied wildly. But it was definitely that close a familial sort of relationship.

He had also thought at first that Makino wasn't a fighter until she took down two gulls on the wing, with her pistol, then reached into her purse, a small little thing which looked as if it was supposed to be for cosmetics or something, and thrust her entire hand into it. When he saw that he gaped, and Luffy grinned at him. "Another little trick I know and can teach, though it will take a long time to work up to."

It was a learning experience for Roronoa Zoro, but he was eager to get better pushing himself constantly. After all, if Luffy was so much better than him and wasn't a swordsman, then what did that say about his target Hawkeyes Mihawk?

By the end of two days Zoro had impressed Luffy immensely by how much progress he made, though he had paid for it. His legs were so stiff that Zoro had trouble moving normally, and there were bags under his eyes from lack of sleep. But he could take a few steps into the air after only two days which Luffy knew from experience was frankly incredible and a show of how strong Zoro had already been.

Halfway through their third day Makino frowned thoughtfully from where she was sitting at the prow of the sloop looking ahead of them with a spyglass. "Hmm…there are three people in the water over there and um… they have clown hair and noses…" Shaking her head as if to clear it she looked back, nodded to herself and then looked over at Luffy questioningly. "Buggy, you think?"

"I've heard that name," Zoro said, cutting off his training and moving over to join Luffy at the oars. "A Grand Line pirate who came to East Blue for some reason."

"Garp was under the impression he just wanted to get away from the competition, though there's some secret there," Makino replied, still staring through her spy glass toward the men in the water. "Something about Buggy that Garp knew and didn't want to share with me, I could tell in his voice he knew something about Buggy that amused him."

"That's kind of weird, but on the other hand if Ji-Kure even knew Buggy's name that means he might be a challenge." Luffy said while he and Zoro moved to the oars, pushing the ship towards the three beleaguered waders.

"Your cockiness pisses me off." Zoro said bluntly. "If I didn't know it was warranted I'd be even more pissed by it."

"I am what I am," Luffy said with a grin.

A few minutes later the three waders spotted them and began to shout for help. Luffy raised a hand in reply and the small sloop continued on under oar power, since there was no wind at present. They had in fact been becalmed late last night and hadn't seen any wind since. But under Zoro and Luffy's muscle power the sloop was quickly within reach of the three men in the water.

As Zoro and Luffy backed oars the three men pulled themselves over the side of the sloop. Then they immediately pulled out cutlasses brandishing them angrily, one of them grabbing Makino around the waist and pulling her towards him, his cutlass swinging around her face and neck threateningly. "This ship is now property of the Buggy Pirates!"

Zoro, Luffy and Makino exchanged glances, but to Zoro's surprise it was Makino who moved first. Since she had been the one grabbed by the first one over the side of the boat, it made sense of course but despite her marksmanship Zoro really hadn't thought her much of a fighter. Until right now that is.

Makino's hand chopped down, smashing into the wrist of the man threatening her, deadening his grip as she flung herself around, an elbow slamming into his sternum hurling him back over the side of the boat. At the same time her hands flashed to the sides, grabbing and snapping both of the other men's cutlasses, her fingers turning black for a bare moment.

Seeing that Zoro looked over at Luffy cocking an eyebrow in question. "I'm not the first one you've trained then? What was that black stuff on her fingers?"

"I trained Makino some, but Ji-Kure did too once he figured out she might go out to sea to hunt down he-who-will-not-be-named. Ji-kure seemed to find the entire damn thing hilarious." Luffy shrugged. "As for the black covering Makino's fingers, that's what I'll teach you after you master what you want from the Rokushiki. And yes, it can be used on swords too."

"One of these days we're going to sit down and drink and exchange stories, 'cause that one about Makino hunting someone sounds really damn interesting," Zoro muttered, looking at the two now unarmed pirates who had scrambled away from the scary green haired woman. "All right you two if you don't want to get a beating get over here and start rowing."

Luffy nodded and moved aside as the two now terrified pirates took their places, before reaching over the side and pulling out their bedraggled fellow and tossing him to join them. "What happened to the three of you anyway, and if you're part of Buggy's crew, where is he?"

At first the trio remained silent but then Zoro went to work on them and they quickly became much more talkative. "The captain's taken over Orange Town for now. We had a major storm about a week ago so we needed to raid a dockyard for supplies." Supplied the first, his words somewhat muffled by how swollen his face was after Zoro's beating.

"Lost half of our cannons overboard, and our rigging too," The second replied, though his face wasn't as bad as his fellow.

"The three of us were sent out on our little raid of our own, and we were coming back when he ran into this orange-haired girl, she was a real witch!" the third said, his eyes cutting toward Makino and away.

"Oh?" Luffy smirked, squatting in front of the speaker. "Tell me more about this girl with orange hair and what she did to you."

About an hour later they came within sight of Orange Town's island, though they had to rely on the rowers the entire way, no hint of wind having been seen. Luffy reflected that was probably a good thing seeing as their sloop would've been far more visible with her sails up.

At his orders their ship did not enter the main dock, where the pirates had said Buggy's ships was docked, instead running aground elsewhere on the small island. While Makino and Zoro went to work tying up their prisoners, Luffy went ahead to scout out the town.

He entered the town quietly, moving through the deserted streets and frowning slightly. _So, I guess the normal inhabitants've hightailed it out of here, I certainly would have Buggy and his merry band of morons came down. Honestly, who in their right mind would dress up his entire crew as clowns? That's almost as bad as dressing your troops like cross-dressers._

Shaking his head from that errant memory from when he was a baby Luffy rounded one street into another, stopping as he heard "Stop the bitch!" "Don't let her get away!" "Buggy will have our hides if we let her get away with the map!"

Moving in the direction of the three voices Luffy almost bumped into Nami coming around another corner. She stopped blinking at him then grinned mischievously before leaping upwards. Grabbing a balcony sticking out over the road the Orange Town-haired girl flipped herself up and over the banister of the balcony to land on it before leaping further up onto the rooftop.

"Impressive." Luffy said looking up at her just as her pursuers came around the corner tear.

Nami winked at him, before shouting "Boss, I'll leave this to you now!" With that she ducked out of sight.

Behind her Luffy chuckled shaking his head as he turned to the trio of pursuers, who just like the last three were dressed like clowns. And they also were quick to brandish their weapons, two clubs and a cutlass in this case. "Damn it where'd that bitch go!?"

"Never mind we've got her boss right here, that'll do for now."

"This is not your lucky day," Luffy said with a shrug before moving forward. One of them tried to smack him with a club, but Luffy grabbed the club with one hand thrusting out hard with a punch to the face that sent that one rolling backwards ass over heels. A kick caught a second in the side, and Luffy whirled away from a sword thrust to lash out with a second kick catching that one in the chin, spinning him around to join his fellow on the road, unconscious.

Shaking his head Luffy turned to look up to where the girl had disappeared. "You can come out now Nami."

Nami did, looking down and whistling appreciatively. "You know, I knew you were good from that display against Alvida and her crew, and the whole walking on air thing, but even so..."

"Why thank you fair maiden for those faint words of praise!" Luffy said sarcastically, doffing his straw hat to her. When he pulled up from his bow however he was glaring up at her. "Are you following me, or is this just coincidence?"

"Just coincidence," Nami said scowling angrily. "I told you I would never join your crew."

"And yet you aren't exactly against using me are you?" Luffy asked archly, jumping up to join her on the balcony crossing one leg over the other as he sat there almost as at ease on that small balcony as Nami was on the roof.

The girl frowned looking away. "I knew you could handle it," she said rather lamely.

Luffy looked at her for some time, but eventually sighed, deciding to let it go for now. "Well whatever, can you tell me what's going on around here?"

Nami nodded, filling him in on what she had learned. The villagers had retreated from the town the moment Buggy's pirate flag had appeared over the horizon, which was just as well. "You should see the damage done to the other side of town, Buggy fired some kind of special cannonball and leveled that entire half of it including the mayor's house. Since then, which apparently happened at least four, five days ago Buggy and his crew have been partying between looting the shipyard to the ground."

Luffy frowned thoughtfully. "How many men does he have?"

"A little over 75 I think, but only a few of them look anything more than common riffraff dressed up in clown outfits." Nami shook her head. "Honestly, who would dress up their crew to look like rejects from a circus?"

"I know right, I was thinking the same thing earlier." Luffy laughed. "Although, it does sort of fit his picture you know." Luffy frowned again then shrugged. "Oh well, we were heading here to buy a ship anyway, and if we can get another bounty I'm all for that too."

"You're insane!" Nami scoffed. "Buggy is a Grand Line pirate, you really think you can take him on?"

"Yes," Luffy said simply. "I know I can." He smirked at her slightly. "My last offers still on the table you know. Join my crew and you can get a share of the bounty when I turn him in."

Nami stared at him, hearing the conviction in his voice, and frowned for a moment before shaking her head. "All right, I'll help you out just this **one** time for a measly 50 percent."

"25 percent of the bounty, and you get to keep Buggy's treasure minus the stuff he's taken from Orange Town," Luffy said firmly. "These people have had enough shit drop on them and keeping that stuff would make us as bad as Buggy."

At first Nami scowled at the idea of leaving any beli behind, but she had to concede that Luffy had a point. Luffy nodded and went on. "And when it's all over you navigate us to our next port of call and go with Makino to the nearest island with a World Government bank while we see about our ship."

"Deal." If push came to shove, Nami felt she could overcome Makino and take the boat and leave. She'd hate to do it, Makino was a nice woman, if really misguided but it was definitely doable.

"Deal," Luffy said in turn, holding out a hand which she slapped rather than shook, something that made him roll his eyes. But then he smirked at her wagging a finger in Nami's face. "And just so we're on the same page, the loot from Buggy will stay here until you're back safe and sound." Which of the two would be safe and sound was left unsaid.

Nami pouted smacking his finger away irritated that he had read her so well.

"And maybe," Luffy went on seriously. "Once we get to know one another you'll tell me what you need all that money for. For now though, you know anywhere around here that we can get some food? We ran out of food last night, and I am starving."

After a moment spent staring at Luffy and wondering how he was able to read her so easily, Nami nodded. "Follow me, there are a few houses that still have food in them. And while we're going, you can tell me about your plan to beat Buggy. I've got one, in case you don't by the way."

"Plan?" Luffy asked blankly. "I beat up the captain, and my first mate Zoro beats up everyone else. Why would I need a plan?"

Nami stopped dead staring at him. "You got the pirate Hunter the demon Zoro to join you!?" When Luffy nodded she shook her head. "That's really bizarre."

"Not really," Luffy smirked. "People with dreams like ours who wish to challenge the world, we have to stick together ya know."

Again Luffy looked at her, and at the determined look in his eyes Nami looked away quickly. She had a dream like that once. Before her maps got her in trouble, before... She pushed those memories away, shivering slightly. "Your plan still sucks."

Luffy was still looking at her as they walked, only stopping when he heard a bark from directly in front of them. Turning he saw a little dog, around a foot tall with long ears and a wide mouth with really soft looking fur sitting in front of a shop they were passing by growling at them.

"What's up pop?" Luffy asked, going down to his knees and reaching forward to scratch the dog behind his ears. The dog made to bite him, but Luffy pulled his hand back quickly, smacking it on the nose lightly. At the same time he noticed how unkempt the dog was, he even had a few injuries here and there that hadn't been treated. "None of that dog, just because you're a scrapper doesn't mean I will let you bite me."

Nami went to one knee beside him, reaching out to pet the dog, who for some reason didn't try to bite her like he had Luffy. "Poor thing, did your owners abandon you?"

"Hey, get away from him you punks!" Turning Nami and Luffy saw elderly man with glasses and an odd poufy sort of hairstyle Luffy hadn't seen before. Over a Hawaiian shirt which gave Ranma/Luffy a serious case of the flashbacks he wore what looked like very old leather armor.

 _I thought all the townspeople fled when Buggy arrived._ "No worries old man, we were just petting the little guy." Luffy adroitly moved his hand once again as the little dog tried to bite him. At the same time Nami began to do what she could for the dog's injuries. "Who're you?"

"I'm Mayor Boodle, this is my town! And the dog is ChouChou." Boodle moved forward into the shop behind the dog, coming back with a small plate and a packet of dog food, which he poured out for the dog. "I come back every day to feed him. Where are you two from, you're not part of Buggy's crew, not dressed like that."

"Normally you mean?" Luffy laughed, shaking his head. "A friend and I had called here to put in an order for a caravel, but when we arrived we saw Clown face's ship in dock. Why didn't you just take ChouChou with you all when you evacuated?"

Boodle sighed. "ChouChou's owner owned this store. For ten years the two of them lived here. The store is filled with precious memories for the two. My friend passed away several months back, but ChouChou still follows his orders to guard the store even now."

The old man gestured to the injuries Nami was trying to treat. "A few of the pirates have tried to ransack this store like the rest of the town, a few of them even have pets so it makes sense. But ChouChou always tries to fight them and he's actually done a decent job of it."

Luffy smiled and petted the dog, once more, scratching him behind the ears. "You're a good boy, protecting your treasure like that!"

For the first time since learning Luffy planned to be a pirate Nami smiled naturally at him with no ulterior motives or even a hint of anger. _Luffy can act really sweet when he wants to._ She shook that thought off as Luffy stood up, letting the dog to his meal. "Come on, I think you promised me a meal."

"Come on then," Boodle cut in before Nami could reply. "The house next door to the shop should still have some food. Though if you're here for a ship boy, I'm sorry to say you'll be waiting for a while. Buggy's crew tore apart most of the ships in our dockyard, and those they didn't they used for target practice."

"Great, another reason to beat the clown into the ground." Luffy groaned but followed Boodle along with Nami, who was feeling somewhat hungry herself.

The two of them listened to Boodle talk about the citizens evacuation and the damages the pirates had already done, working himself into a fury at them. He said more than once he wanted to challenge Buggy and kick him out of the town himself, but both teens knew that would be suicide. Luffy tried to calm him down, but didn't have much luck, mostly because he had no experience at all in trying to do so.

Nami had a bit more luck especially when she began to use her body to turn the man's attention to other things. Indeed by the end of the meal she had almost gotten him back to normal.

But then they heard a loud crash outside, and ChouChou's growling, followed quickly by a pain filled whimper. Before either of the others could even push themselves to their feet Luffy had bounded away from the table and out the window, smashing the glass in passing to land outside right in front of the pet store.

In front of him was a massive lion with green fur and a purple mane of all things. Behind Luffy the door to the pet store had been smashed open, and Luffy spotted ChouChou pushing himself out of the rubble of the door, still snarling as he tried to face down the far larger and more dangerous animal.

With the massive and oddly colored lion grabbing his attention Luffy missed the oddly dressed man standing next to it, wringing his hand out and wincing. It looked like he was wearing a hat made of fur which went under his chin and rose into ears over his head, while covering his shoulders with the same fur. His stomach below that was bare, and he wore blue pantaloons.

"Fucking mutt ya shouldn't have bit me! Finish him off… wait who the hell are you" The guy with the fur asked taking his eyes off the still growling dog as Luffy landed in front of him.. "Hey, you could be that bitch's boss, the boys mentioned you and how you beat them up. Well I'm Mohji the Beast Tamer of the Buggy Pirates and I think you'll find my lion and I think we'll be too much for you to handle! Get him Richie!"

Luffy still didn't notice him, trying his damndest to stop himself from running away in terror at the sight of the lion. _God damn it, why the fuck am I still afraid of cats! I've never been attacked by them in this body, there's no fucking physical reason to be afraid of them, but I still suffer from the Neko-ken madness!_

The lion roared and swiped his paw forward at Luffy, who though he saw it coming wasn't able to get out of the way in time. It was all he could do to brace his body. "T-Tekkai!"

The lion's paw slammed into him, hurling Luffy backwards since despite his technique Luffy hadn't quite set himself to take the blow well enough. He flew backwards past ChouChou into the interior of the shop. On the other hand, Richie's paw broke in several places, the lion having no reason to pull his blow and not anticipating the impact of trying to smash through steel.

As the lion screamed, rolling about in agony while Luffy pushed himself out of the shop, swearing under his breath so much even Shanks would have blushed. "Freaking goddess, damned Neko-ken, gonna…grah!"

Seeing the lion down and no longer a factor Luffy breathed a sigh of relief pointing at the moron in the fur cap. "Alright, my plan to cripple your lion worked perfectly, now you're next!"

Overlooking the action from a nearby balcony Nami laughed. "Plan my ass that was pure luck!"

"No comments from the peanut gallery!" Luffy shouted back, resolutely not meeting her eyes for a moment.

"You, you bastard! I'll never forgive you for hurting Richie!" Mohji shouted, pulling out a cutlass from his waist and charging forward.

 _Now you I can deal with!_ Luffy thought gleefully, charging forward. He ducked under the cutlass and punched upward into Mohji's chin. "This'll teach you not to mess with other people's treasure!" Except that in his eagerness to get over his fearful response to Richie, Luffy forgot to pull his punch as he normally would.

All that could be said was his blow didn't splatter Mohji's head across the landscape, though Mohji probably would never realize his good fortune as the blow sent him flying up and over the town. The sight of Mohji flying into the air as if he had just been fired out of a cannon was enough to make Nami and Boodle, who had raced through the house to come out onto the road, gape in astonishment.

With the human dealt with Luffy reluctantly turned to the lion, only to see it limping down the road away from them, "Oh phew, um I mean, damn, it got away." With that he turned around moving back into the rubble of the shop, bringing out ChouChou

Nami shook her head slowly as she moved to help him, already bringing out her few medical supplies. The beating of the lion and the idiot with the weird hair didn't mean much to her, though she did wonder why Luffy had used that odd body strengthening move rather than simply dodge the blow and punch the lion as he had its owner. His strength was incredible, but she had seen strong people before.

No, what shocked Nami was that Luffy hadn't hesitated in jumping into the fight to protect ChouChou and his 'treasure'. It wasn't anything anyone else would have recognized as such, but it was obvious the dog really did think the store was as valuable as Nami thought her money was. _Why can't more pirates be dreamers like him rather than bastards like…_

Once more Nami cut that thought off, moving to stand next to Luffy trying to make light of her thoughts and the odd impact Luffy's action had one her. "Nice job, but what was with freezing like that in front of Richie?"

"Don't want to talk about it." Luffy muttered.

Behind them Boodle began growling, working himself up once more. "I can't stand this! This, this is the second time in my life I've seen my village destroyed by pirates. Forty years ago my family had to abandon this village when pirates attacked it then. What right do these blasted pirates have to come and destroy our lives, our hopes and dreams for the future?!"

"Pirates, these bastards aren't real pirates." Luffy growled, looking up from his work on ChouChou. "They are cowards and weaklings, scum who can only make themselves feel strong by preying on the weak, mere brigands of the sea with no dreams to call their own or any idea of what **real** strength is."

Nami shook her head sadly. "Luffy I know you don't like it, but that's what most pirates are."

"I know that's what you think, and there might be a lot of crews out there like that, but that doesn't mean they deserve the name pirate." Luffy stood up after placing ChouChou down on the grown right in front of the ruined entrance to the pet store. The dog actually licked his hand as he pulled away, but Luffy didn't notice. His eyes were shadowed by the brim of his straw hat and he cracked his knuckles meaningfully. "But if they are going around calling themselves pirate, then as future Pirate King I should be one to punish them. I'm going to make this Buggy character eat his own fat red nose then I'm going to turn him in to the marines."

"Oh, going to get into a fight without me captain, I'm hurt." Luffy, Nami and Boodle all turned at the sound of the unexpected voice, to see Zoro leaning against the side of a building at the far end of the street. "If you're going to pick a fight let me join."

"Zoro, why in the world are you trying to look so cool?" asked Makino, and the three watchers saw her grab Zoro's ear, tugging hard.

"OW! Why you, let go woman, it's not my fault you got lost!" Zoro groused trying to pull away only to find Makino's grip was a lot stronger than she looked. Which really shouldn't have surprised him, but it did.

"I did not get lost, **you** did." Makino said still coldly as she moved forward dragging Zoro behind her towards Luffy Nami and the elderly man with him whose size and general disposition reminded her rather strongly of mayor Woopslap. "You got lost the moment you got out of sight of the boat without waiting for me Zoro!"

She turned to Luffy, shaking her head angrily. "I was putting the finishing touches on tying up those three pirates, when Zoro decided I didn't need him anymore and walked off with the stated intention of 'finding Luffy or booze whichever comes first' only to somehow lose his way in the small bit of land between where we beached our ship and Orange Town. I found him actually up on that little hill over there trying to figure out where the town was!"

Luffy blinked, then looked at Zoro, who looked angry, still trying to break Makino's grip on his ear without actually trying to hurt her which Luffy knew from experience wasn't exactly easy. _Oh my God, he's another Ryoga!_ Luffy kept that thought off his face however, simply smirking at the other boy. "Well now that you've finally arrived, and remind me to get you a compass at some point Zoro, let's go have some fun. There are a crew of pirates who's collective ass needs kicking."

"Fun!?" the mayor spluttered, while Zoro simply grinned evilly, putting his hand on his swords.

Nami and Makino sighed exchanging a glance which said it all really. _Men!_

"I'm coming with you damn it, I'm tired of letting these scumbags have the run of my town! I…" the mayor trailed off staring at the three katana at Zoro's side. "Are, are you Pirate Hunter Zoro?"

"I still don't understand how I got that name. It's not like I went out of my way to fight pirates, they went out of their way to fight me." Zoro muttered shaking his head. "And I only ever turned them in when I had to pay for food."

Luffy shrugged ignorance as well, but then looked at the mayor. "I don't think you should come with us old man, no offense but you don't look like you could fight one pirate let alone a crew of them. I realize this town is your treasure and you want to fight with for it, but I don't know if we'll be able to protect you once we're fighting."

The mayor tore his eyes off the three swords to look at Luffy's expression, then slowly nodded. _The Pirate Hunter calls this man captain, and I saw his strength against the lion and the man with the weird hair, so…_ "I'll put my trust in you," he said formally. "And if you still want a ship after this, we'll build it for you for free!"

"Deal." Luffy nodded, while Makino looked ecstatic before reaching into her pouch and pulling out her handgun.

Nami was the only one of the others that noticed this and she gaped at the girl who winked at her before cocking her pistol meaningfully. "Shall we go?"

The three of them moved off, with Nami quickly following. "Just so you know I'm not going to be fighting, the moment you guys get their attention, I'll sneak in under their noses and steal all their treasure before they know what's happening."

"That's all well and good for now, but after this I'm going to have to train you up if you're going to stay with us. Running and hiding really isn't my thing." Luffy replied.

"I told you I wasn't going to join your crew." Nami said sharply then subsided as Zoro glared at her. "We're only working together to beat Buggy."

"Even if you could get more money joining us for now, say just until we get to the Grand Line?" Makino asked slyly.

Nami seems to pause a moment at that, but shook her head quickly. " **Maybe** I'll join you on that basis after this is over. But you're still a pirate, or at least you want to be a pirate, though I still think you should stay as a bounty hunter team. If you do, then I'll join you full time…" she wheedled, leaning sideways, pressing her cleavage against Luffy's arm.

Luffy blushed, moving away to grab up a small bucket someone had left out which was full of water at present. Despite the time he'd spent as Ranma or even in this life around Makino, he still wasn't used to being flirted with like that. "N-none of that, I've told you I'm going to be the Pirate King, how can I do that if I'm not a pirate?"

"Meh, can't blame a girl for trying. But in that case, my answer to joining you crew is still no." Nami laughed, suddenly feeling a lot better about this for some reason. She watched as Luffy dumped the water over her head, one eyebrow raised.

As Luffy walked off into a nearby alleyway to change his, now her, clothing, Makino answered Nami's unasked question. "In case we want to turn Buggy over, this way even Buggy and his pirates won't be able to connect Luffy the pirate with 'Ranko' the bounty hunter."

A moment later, the quartet had gotten within range of hearing the party going on top of the town's bar. The town bar had been the largest of the few three story buildings in Orange Town, overlooking the small docks and the ships there with the roof set up like an observation deck. Now it was the only three story tall building, Buggy having destroyed the others. Buggy had set up there with most of his crew along with a cannon set to face the ocean most of the time. Occasionally over the past few days he had used it to smash houses in the town to pieces while his crew looted the town slowly.

Of course since Mohji and Ritchie haven't returned yet, Buggy was in a bad mood, and most of the crew was keeping out of his way. One of them however was near the edge of the tavern's roof where he spotted the four of them coming. "Hey boss! Isn't that the thief?"

Buggy and several of his crew rushed over to glare over the side, and the first thing that Buggy noticed was the straw hat on the redhead's head. "That kind of hat reminds me of someone I'd sooner forget." Buggy muttered while Luffy cursed, having forgotten to remove his hat. But then the clown's eyes latched on to Nami and he screamed angrily. "So you came back you dirty thief! Don't expect that to make your death any easier! Men, show these swabs what happens when they face Buggy's pirate crew!"

Behind him his crew began to gather their weapons and charged forward, leaping over the side of the building or down into the tavern making their way to the door like normal people.

As they did, Luffy looked over at Zoro. "You want them all, or can I at least say hello first?"

"You're the captain, captain." Zoro said, tying his bandana in place before pulling out his katana and placing the white hilted one into his mouth, speaking through his clenched teeth. "Most of them look like small fry anyway."

"Good," Luffy said, then whirled quickly, her leg lashing out. "Rankyaku!"

The blast of wind from his leg slammed into the tavern's first floor carving through it and out the other side since Luffy hadn't blunted that's one nearly as much as he usually did. The pirate's caught still inside the tavern screamed as many of them fell into the rubble caused by his attack, while others were blown off their feet.

The remainder pushed out of the rubble or over the side of the roof, only to be intercepted by Zoro. "My turn!"

Zoro matched them blade to blade, dodging the few musket balls fired at him as he did, whirling away and around, slashing many of them down before they could even touch him. Then he was forced to defend himself from a straight, single-edged katana thrusting towards his face. "So," he drawled, "there's at least some of you who can actually fight."

"Judging by your three blades you must be Roronoa Zoro, but don't let your reputation go to your head! I'm so angry right now words fail me!" the man on the other side of that katana muttered, balancing easily on a small wheel. He had dark green hair almost like Makino's covering half his face, while the other half was swept back, kept in place by some wooden hairpins, a long coat open at the front and an equally long blue and white scarf. "To think you brats would dare to challenge the Buggy pirates and do us such damage to boot. It has to be paid for."

"Heh, let's see who pays the bill in the end clown!" Zoro grunted, pushing the other man back and bringing the sword in his mouth around in a cut which the other man had to block while he used the swords in his hands to attack a few more pirates.

Buggy had been among those buried, but he pushed himself out of the rubble quickly, or rather pulled himself back together. Not that any of his attackers noticed that from their point on the street below, or the fact his thoughts were going a mile a minute. _That, that was one of the Rokushiki, Rankyaku! Where'd a punk like that learn one of the World government's combat techniques?! Damn it, I'm going to have to take this seriously from the start!_

His ability to think clearly stopped abruptly however when he heard a voice shout, "Buggy get your big red nose out here so I can break it!"

All movement in the battle below shuddered to a halt at that as everyone in Buggy's crew stared at the straw hat wearing girl in horror. None of them noticed that the other two women that had been with the foursome had disappeared or that some other men had fallen to musket balls impacting their legs or arms. "You moron!" they all shouted as one. "You never mention the nose!"

"That's all I can take!" Buggy shouted. "Flashily die! Bara Bara Cannon!" With that he raised one hand, pointing it toward Luffy suddenly holding a knife in that hand. The hand shot forward as if shot out of a cannon, the arm behind it actually coming apart into segments as it did, each segment shooting the one in front of it out faster towards the target.

Even as she gaped in surprise Luffy was able to dodge aside, watching the pieces of the arm that Buggy had somehow separated and hurled at her like weapons. _So that's the secret Ji-Kure knew about Buggy, he's a Devil Fruit user._ Experimentally Luffy lashed out at one of the parts, trying to smash it sideways, only to see it simply float back into the air and move back towards the body.

A Rankyaku sent towards his body made Buggy divide himself to avoid it, laughing aloud. "You flashy moron, cutting attacks can't work on me!"

Luffy blinked at her opponent actually saying that aloud, but shook her head quickly, realizing this might be a challenge. _And he's got full control of those body parts of his while in the air. Some kind of telekinesis maybe? Whatever it's obviously part of the devil fruit itself so I'm not going to question the mechanics of it._

Then Luffy was forced to dodge backwards as one of the hands that had flown past him before twisted around, the hand shooting off from the wrist to add even more speed to its assault. _And no limit to how much he can divide himself? This is going to be a challenge good!"_

With that Luffy charged forward, her fist and feet flashing knocking aside the attacking parts, shattering the knives in Buggy's hand' forcing him to recall and rearm them from the knives he kept on his main body. _It would be easy if I used Busoshoku, or even had a good grasp of Kenbunshoku, but I'm not the best at that, and I promised myself I wouldn't use Armament unless I desperately had to. No rookie could know that ability and even Ji-Kure doesn't know I can use it._

To one side of the fight between captains, Zoro continued to battle the rest of Buggy's crew and more importantly Cabaji. The long-haired unicycle was giving him issues, dancing in and out of the rest of the fight trying to attack Zoro from his blind spot, and also had some other tricks as well, as evinced when he took a draft from a small clay urn before opening his mouth, shouting "Breath of Death!"

The clay container had oil in it and Cabaji had a device under his tongue he could use to create small sparks and did so now. From his mouth flames shot out towards Zoro.

But as Cabaji attacked his unicycle shattered under him hit by a musket ball and Cabaji's attack went above Zoro's head as he fell backwards. "Damn it! Some of you fall back through the rubble, circle around and find that damn sniper!"

A millisecond later was forced to block a sword cut aimed toward his shoulder, and concentrated on Zoro once more.

Nearby it hiding in plain sight in an alleyway Makino scoffed. "I'm not a sniper, I'm good, but I'm not that good. But I suppose that Zoro can handle this lot now. I'd best check on Nami-chan right now."

Doing so she ran into the men that the first mate had ordered to come around and attack her from the side, overcoming them as easily as she had the three on their sloop earlier that day. Sneaking down the short distance to the docks and onto Buggy's galleon she pulled herself onto the deck as Nami appeared at the top of the stairs leading into the hold, a large bag of treasure over one shoulder. She hadn't had much trouble, most of Buggy's crew being with him up on the roof of the tavern, though she had knocked out the one guard left to watch Buggy's treasure.

"My word," Makino said from behind Nami, startling the younger girl. "They weren't kidding when they said the ship took a pounding in a storm. Where's the main mast, and look at all that damage to the sails and the deck itself."

"Yet for all that, the crew and this ship are still dangerous." Nami said, getting her breath back. "After all, how else would they have gathered all this treasure?" She pulled her large sack over her shoulder, opening it slightly to show Makino before closing it protectively. "Your captain said that I can keep all the treasure that isn't from Orange Town itself, so it's all mine!"

"You just contradicted yourself Nami-chan." Makino said gently. "Unless you can tell me you've already identified all the treasure Buggy stole from the town?"

Nami pouted at the older woman, before pulling out a smaller bag and putting it to one side. "That's better. I suggest we stay here for a bit however, the fight over there is reaching its climax I think.

Back in the main fight Zoro shouted, "Enough!" once again blocking a sword thrust from Cabaji, absentmindedly sending two other Pirates down to the ground with flat of his other katana "Always trying to attack me from behind, using that fire-breathing trick of yours, have you no honor as a swordsman?!"

"Swordsman?" Cabaji scoffed, backing up slightly, sneering. "Why would I have something so useless as that, I'm a pirate not a swordsman!"

Zoro growled angrily, slowly crouching down as he stared at the pirates in front of him, having moved so that all the remaining crewmen were in front of him now. "I wanted to test this out on a worthy opponent, but you just pissed me of! Onigiri!" He shouted, rushing forward faster than their eyes track his blades slashing out just as fast before coming to a halt on the other edge of the crowd.

For a moment nothing happened, then blood fountained out as dozens of wounds appeared on Cabaji and the other pirates. "Im-impossible, the Buggy pirates, defeated like thi…" Cabaji moaned, before slumping to the ground along with his crewmates, blood gushing from the slash across his chest as his katana shattered in his hand, hit by another blow.

"That's for your stupid tricks." Zoro scoffed, spitting to one side.

"Caba-chan!" Buggy shouted, turning quickly and shooting his free hand toward Zoro, only for Luffy to intercept the attack, punching the fist down into the ground before stomping hard on it, causing Buggy to cry out in pain.

Grinding her foot down on Buggy's hand Luffy looked at Zoro with a grin. "Did you just name that attack after those rice balls Rika made you?"

Zoro flushed angrily, smacking a bit of debris towards him with one of his now sheathed katana. "S-shut up! It's demon slash, Oni-giri, two words, not onigiri!"

"That is so cute!" Luffy laughed, before ducking as Buggy's feet flew through the space her head had previously occupied, the ends of Buggy's boot now containing a dagger which had popped out from the toe. Even his foot however could separate, and the toes did so now, shooting back towards Luffy.

"Tekkai!" Luffy said, knowing she couldn't dodge in time. The knife shattered against her side, and she smirked evilly up at where Buggy seemed to hover in the air. Or at least seeming to, since Luffy noticed one of the clown's feet was still on the ground below him, and the other was actually walking back slowly for some reason. "You didn't think Rankyaku was the only one of the Rokushiki I knew did you?"

"Damn it, how the flashy hell did someone in East Blue learn about the Rokushiki!" Buggy shouted.

"I don't have any reason to tell you that." Luffy laughed. "I told I'd be busting your big red nose and that's what I'm going to do, Buffoon."

"You flashy damned brat!" Buggy growled angrily attacking again. "I don't know what irritates me more, you or that damn hat!"

Luffy cocked her head thoughtfully even as she dodged Buggy's attacks. "What the heck about my hat bothers you?"

"It reminds me too much of the man I will always hate, that bastard Shanks!"

"Huh, you know the Yonkou Shanks?"

 **{Cue and end canon flashback}**

"So Shanks saved your life? That's awesome I guess, though I still don't get why that'd irritate you. Unless you see it as yet another sign he's surpassed you in every way imaginable. I mean, he's a freaking Yonkou while here you are hiding away in East Blue! That's pretty pathetic." Luffy said bluntly.

With an almost audible snap Buggy lost what little bit of his self-control remained. "Flashily die you bitch!" He shouted "Bara Bara Festival!"

With that his entire body came apart, rocketing towards Luffy. His hands and feet still held knives, while the rest of him simply charged forward as fast as so many fists.

Luffy however backed away slightly, glancing behind her and out past toward the ocean. Suddenly smiling she leaped into the air using Geppo, and began to smack the parts away lightly, keeping her real strength in check for now. Doing so she shattered the trio of knives in each of Buggy's hands, but what Luffy was mainly doing was watching how long it took Buggy to regain control of the parts of his body Luffy hit.

"Just because you can use Geppo doesn't mean you can beat the flashy me!" Buggy shouted, sending his hands forward again loaded with knives as his feet below followed up.

"Oh come on Red Nose, this is all in fun right? Or no, I suppose attacking civilians too scared to fight back is about your speed ain't it Buffoon!" Luffy taunted.

"Murder, death, flashy kill you!" Buggy shouted, trying to close again with his hands, only to watch Luffy duck aside. The bitch didn't want to use the iron body technique apparently. _Maybe she can only use it a few times before tiring himself out?_ It was possible; Buggy had seen that happen a few times in the Grand Line.

It never occurred to Buggy that he was following the bounty hunter towards the ocean, or that she seemed to be retreating very methodically.

From their hiding place on Buggy's ship Makino and Nami watched as the two captains fought their way through the air over the docks. "I wonder what Luffy is planning," Makino mused. It's not like her to run away."

"Maybe he, er she, just can't get a handle on Buggy's strange power." Nami replied. She'd frozen when she had first seen what was going on and Buggy's odd power, but thanks to Makino smacking her upside the head had recovered her equilibrium quickly. "To think Devil fruits are real."

"Oh…" Makino exclaimed, smacking a fist into her palm. " **That's** what she's doing."

However, Buggy had noticed them and suddenly stopped attacking Luffy. "You flashy thieves! No one steals my treasure from me and lives to tell of it!"

Nami popped out of her hiding place shouting angrily. "Hey, this treasure is mine now red nose!"

Luffy laughed, but Buggy once again lost his temper. Shooting his upper body through the air towards her, he grabbed onto the stack of loot that Nami quickly raised to try and slam him aside.

But behind him on the wharf Luffy saw his feet and legs were still in position on the ground, proving that Buggy's levitation was very limited. Staring at the legs that were moving towards Buggy's main body, Luffy wound her leg up and kicked upwards right into Buggy's balls. "Not how I wanted to do this but whatever."

Buggy screamed in pain as Luffy's blow landed his legs shooting into the air following a low curve into the ocean with a splash. Suddenly Buggy couldn't feel anything from his waist down. He sagged against the large bag Nami was still holding, looking over his shoulder woozily as the feeling of being dipped into water hit him. "What, what…"

"One of the weaknesses of any Devil Fruit user is water." Luffy said with a shrug. "I wondered what'd happen if I dumped some of your body parts into it. Looks like you're actually able to function better than most."

Before Buggy could respond to this backhanded compliment Luffy was in his face, crossing the intervening distance faster than Buggy could track. _Fast! Where the hell was that speed beforRRE!"_

That was as far as his thoughts before a sound like nothing he'd ever heard before rang out as Luffy shouted, "Amiguriken Assault!"Her hands flashed out, smashing into Buggy's body as he tried to disassemble, smacking the body parts into the ocean alongside his ship to join his lower body.

Soon only Buggy's head remained, and now he was **really** feeling the effect of the ocean water on his body. His eyes began to roll in his head as he fell into unconsciousness. The last thing he heard was the thief's voice. "You know, since I had to play bait at the end there I think I should get a larger cut of his bounty, don't you?"

* * *

 **End chapter**

I know I could have gone into detail about the fights in this chapter, but frankly none of them were worth the effort save Buggy's and I feel like I did enough there to show how Ranma/Luffy fights differently than canon Luffy beyond his not having the Rubber Fruit.

From here on out I will start changing canon a LOT, but even here you can see the changes Ranma/Luffy is making in terms of his interacting with other characters not just how he deals with his enemies: he doesn't have quite the same sense of honor, nor quite Luffy's way of motivating/befriending people. He also doesn't have the same kind of restraint Luffy has as a Shounen protagonist towards the whole not killing thing.

The next chapter is going to be more about character interaction than this one, let Ranma/Luffy get to know Nami, show her what sort of person he is, and let her get to know the other three while also getting some training in. Also for those worrying that Makino is just along for the ride, don't worry, she will have her time to shine, it's just right now there's no need for her to step up for any of the fights.


	3. Chapter 3

**I don't own Ranma or One Piece curse the gods… What I do with the characters though, that's all me.**

Once more this has been edited by _Hiryo_ and me, which means there will no doubt still be small mistakes throughout. Thanks also again go to _Riniko22_ for pointing out a dozen or so mistakes in the last chapter. They have now been corrected, as have the ones in this chapter!

Oh, some reviewers have mentioned pairings: I will say at this point that the only pairing set in stone is Raffy/Robin. Nami might or might not join them, and Margaret might or might not join them. I also have really liked Sanji in this latest canon arc, and his sister joining the crew eventually might be freaking hilarious LOL.

This is going to be the last chapter of this story until near the middle of November, so I can put out the next three chapters in a group once more. Then I will continue to do so in groups of three or two until we are caught up to where the story will be by the end of November: the end of the Alabasta arc. Barring how a poll goes at that point, I will then put this story up as one of the choices in my monthly small story poll.

* * *

 **Chapter 3: Getting to Know You**

While Luffy and Nami were diving for Buggy's parts, and Zoro took the opportunity to kip out and Makino went to find the mayor. This wasn't difficult, though convincing a few of the townsfolk who had apparently come to search for him that she wasn't a pirate was a little more time consuming. Nonetheless, she was able to without too much trouble after which she led them to the area where the unconscious or dead pirates of Buggy's crew were scattered.

Zoro after all was using swords so not killing someone with them was a little more difficult than with Luffy and his fists. He hadn't gone out of his way to kill, but hadn't made any effort not to either.

"Oh my God! They cut off that pirate clown's head, look!" said one man in the crowd, pointing at where Luffy had set Buggy's head.

"Well not exactly," Makino said sweatdropping slightly as she wondered how to explain Buggy's rather odd Devil Fruit power.

"That was quick," said Zoro as he woke up from his nap. "Where's the booze?"

"This isn't my bar so how should I know?" Makino asked with a laugh, gesturing to the townsfolk. "Besides, didn't Buggy and his crew take over the restaurant? Check in the rubble."

Zoro looked at the demolished building, what was left of it from Luffy's initial attack, and scowled. "Too much work."

At that point Nami pulled herself out of the water onto the quay, reaching down to haul up some parts. Luffy followed, pulling herself out of the water easily with the final two pieces of Buggy's legs. "Anyone have a barrel handy?" the redhead asked.

The mayor gaped at him then looked around. "Where's…"

At that point the unknown redhead slapped a hand over his mouth, covering the distance between them in a single blink. "Easy there, I'm Luffy, I just have a sort of curse with water. Go with it, I'll stay in this form for a while until we're out of here. You didn't tell anyone I was a guy did you?"

Mayor Boodle looked at the redhead askance, though if that was because of her tale or because of her proximity, she couldn't tell. Eventually Boodle nodded, and Luffy let him go just as the townsfolk were about to take umbrage of her manhandling their mayor. "No, I didn't tell them anything. Makino-san found us only a few minutes after my friends found me."

"Good. And keep Zoro's name on the down low okay, Call him Green-head for now." Luffy breathed a sigh of relief. Staying in female form while earning bounties was still a good idea, but wouldn't have done any good if the marine had come to question the townsfolk about who actually had beaten Buggy. That this would also hopefully make it so fewer people suffered when the World Government began to backtrack Luffy after he became a big name was just a side benefit.

Nami had been close enough to hear all that and had to nod at the impromptu planning Luffy had just used. _Now if he, she, could only think ahead like that all the time I might actually start respecting him, er her, gah that's going to be irritating._ Shaking that thought out of his mind Nami quickly went off to find Zoro and tell him to hide one of his three swords, since that style was his calling card, at least among the marines.

A few moments of explanation later, Luffy filled a barrel with seawater before dumping Buggy's parts into the barrel. With his entire body immersed in water like that, Buggy would have no strength or ability to act out even if he woke up from the beating Luffy had given him.

In the meantime, Makino and the townsfolk had gathered up the rest of the pirates, tying them up or laying them out as the case may be. A little over half of the pirates had been killed in the battle, including the odd swordsman who had faced Zoro, though surprisingly Mohji had been found alive and soon was tied up with the rest of the still-living pirates. His lion had disappeared, but since the townsfolk had confiscated most of the pirates weapons, he was no threat to them now.

The barrel of Buggy parts drew many a glance from the townsfolk, but Luffy, Makino and Zoro all ignored it, with Luffy and Makino corralling the mayor and his chief shipwright to peruse the construction yards. Even Nami ignored it for the most part busy as she was with moving through the restaurant the pirates had taken over to look for valuables.

Zoro followed her, ostensibly to make certain that she didn't steal any of the local's valuables, though he got the impression that wouldn't happen. The girl might have some of the moral flexibility of a pirate, but she did have standards, at least when the right thing was pointed out to her beforehand. Instead, he spent most of his time searching for booze, becoming quite happy when he found a few undamaged bottles easily despite his earlier pessimism.

About an hour later Nami looked up from where she was arguing with a few of the townsfolk about how much it would cost to rebuild the town, and therefore how much she could take from Buggy's ill-gotten gains, as Luffy and Makino returned with Boodle and his chief shipwright. "Any luck?" she asked, scowling at the man she'd been talking to before turning away entirely.

"Not much," Luffy said with a shrug. "They took apart all of the ships here to repair their own, and despoiled a lot of what was left."

"I can't say sorry enough," Boodle replied shaking his head sadly. "I realize that my townsfolk really couldn't have done anything. But we still took your money in good faith and now we have nothing to show for it."

Luffy shrugged. "Don't worry about it. It's not your fault, it's Buggy's. And he's going to pay for it and a lot of other things too."

She shook her head, but there was a small smirk on her face. She really liked the delicious sort of irony behind a would-be pirate turning in other pirates for their bounty in order to pay for his/her pirate activities. If not for the whole bowing and scraping to the World Government she could almost see the point of becoming a Shichibukai. _Not that I could at this point of course, I bet I won't even be invited to join until I beat the crap out of few of the Shichibukai themselves._

Luffy knew he/she could beat at least one of them, but that was more in the case of a rock paper scissors battle. If the battle happened near the water, Jinbei the Knight of the sea would win. If it didn't, Luffy would win. Their strength matched up like that. The others Luffy didn't know much about save Mihawk and his on again off again feud with Shanks. And the only reason he knew about those two was because both his grandfather and Shanks respected Jinbei's sense of honor and Shanks had mentioned Jinbei a few times as someone Luffy would probably get along with. The others Luffy thought might be beyond her for now until she had fully mastered Haki, since according to what little info she had on them they all had Devil Fruit powers.

"Actually," she said thoughtfully staring at that large ship in front of them. "Nami, Makino, you both've been aboard the _Big Top_. Is it seaworthy?"

Makino shrugged her shoulders, but Nami nodded firmly. "Say what you would about them as people, but Buggy's crew did very good work repairing that ship. All it needs is some more work on the canvas, and then bit of work on its topmast finished and it'll be ready for the ocean. Why?"

"Well, it's a huge ass ship, and frankly it's also a durable one despite whatever happened to it to send the Buggy Bunch here. I think it'd be a good ship at least for a short period of time."

"It's a little big for four people," Nami said doubtfully staring up at it then at the redhead and Zoro before shrugging. "If you two think you're strong enough to see to the rigging alone, I'm all for that I suppose."

Zoro shrugged, taking a swig from one of the sake bottles he'd liberated from the wreckage of the restaurant. "I see the point of trying at least, but those pirate marks have to go."

"A new paint job is a must," Luffy agreed with a nod.

"Leave that to me," Makino said quickly. "I've seen your sense of color schemes Luffy, they don't make any sense whatsoever to anyone else."

Luffy shrugged, but Boodle smiled. "As thanks for your help with Buggy, I think we can all pitch in on that," he said looking over at his townsfolk nearby. All of them shouted and cheered in agreement, eager to help their saviors.

Luffy smirked nodding her head towards the crowd. "In that case, while you lot are working on that I'll take the dinghy and Buggy's head to the nearest marine base, though even the dinghy will need its canvas replaced just in case."

"That means you'll need a navigator," Nami cut in, sidling up to the redhead with a smirk. "And I'll only charge you a measly 80% of the bounty for it."

"And that you'll be dealing with them rather than me." Makino giggled, looking at her young friend. The fact this would put their reluctant navigator into close confines with Luffy and his magnetic personality also amused her.

"Yeah, that's a downside to this plan, but if you want ta handle the painting, and I'll agree you're better at that stuff then me…" Luffy shrugged. "I can deal with it for a short amount of time anyway.

After saying that, Luffy turned to Nami a smirk on his face as she leaned up to whisper to the other girl. Thanks to his brother Sabo he was a lot wiser about money in this life than he'd ever really been in the last one, but he (currently she) liked to think that even the Ranma who had arrived in Nerima wouldn't have fallen for that kind of thing. "I thought we already went over this once? Well if you want to renegotiate, how about I don't charge you rent once we get on the ship, you keep all of Buggy's treasures minus the stuff we're leaving for the townsfolk, and you get 10% of Buggy's bounty."

"Thirty!" Nami replied quickly. "And no rent," she added after a moment glaring at the shorter redhead.

Luffy smirked insolently up at her, shaking her head. "No rent, and I'll throw in all the musket balls and other training things will need for free, but 15%."

Nami's eyes narrowed, and Zoro looked up quickly, having heard the magic word, or rather one of a few in his lexicon. "Training?"

Luffy nodded. "That's the other part of having a ship that big, we'll have a lot of room for us to train in. Zoro, while Makino's getting the hull painted, I'll leave setting up a training room for us to you."

Zoro grinned evilly, and Luffy matched him. "My pleasure captain."

Within an hour Nami and Luffy had taken Nami's dinghy and set out towards the nearest marine base. Nami of course knew where it was, always taking note of such things as necessary in her line of work. Thankfully she had never actually stolen anything in this area, so she should be alright coming along.

Behind them, the townsfolk went to work not only on trying to rebuild their town, but repainting and finishing the work on Buggy's ship. Makino chipped in with the work on Buggy's ship, directing the paint job. Zoro however decided to put his part of the job off for a bit to work on a few of the training exercises Luffy had already told him about.

Almost as soon as they were out of sight of the land, Luffy had reheated a bit of water and changed back to his male form. This made Nami realize that she was now stuck on a ship alone with a pirate. A nice one it must be said: the more time Nami spent around Luffy, the more she came to realize that he was a very unusual pirate. But he was still a pirate!

After Luffy had finished pulling the sails around under her directions, settling the ship onto the course Nami had ordered the silence soon became awkward. Finally Nami simply blurted her question out, the question that had bugged her ever since their first meeting and was at the center of her problem with Luffy. "Why do you want to be pirate? I mean you've talked a time or two about it and I know you knew some pirate but really why did you choose to become a pirate, why do you have this dream of yours?"

"Well why did you want to be a navigator?" Luffy asked cocking his head to one side.

Nami frowned, looking away and Luffy quickly held up a hand. "How about I tell you why I want to be a pirate, and you can decide afterward if you want to tell me about your own dream to be a navigator okay?" he asked softly.

Looking at him from out of the corner of her eye warily Nami paused but nodded, her inquisitiveness and curiosity getting the better of her. Besides she could always just not tell him afterward right?

"Why did I want to be a pirate? I suppose you could say there were a few things that made me consider it. First, I love my freedom. I'm not one for following rules, and I'm not one for obeying orders." Luffy began.

"You don't say? Is that why you seem to regularly break the laws of physics every chance you get?"

"Part of it," Luffy chirped in reply, a smug smirk on his face.

Nami shook her head with a laugh, but looked at Luffy seriously as he went on. "I also promised a man I would become the Pirate King, I already had that as my goal, and the promise on top of it just made it all the more important. He saved my life, he saved Makino's life, and besides…" he said with a sudden fire in his eyes that for some reason sent Nami's pulse to racing, "To become the Pirate King means you're the strongest in the world, the strongest and the freest of them all, and that's what I want to be. Free, and able to protect all of my precious people whatever happens."

He went on to describe Shanks, the impact the pirate had on his life, and why he had become such an important, almost parental figure in Luffy's life. Nami shook her head more than once during the tale. Finally she shook her head angrily. "Enough, I get it, just move on okay?"

On the one hand, Nami had enjoyed some of the stories, on the other hand, hearing Luffy talk about Shanks made it all the more obvious that she had really gotten shafted in terms of the type of pirate she had run into. On the other hand there was something else on her mind. "Whoever your grandpa was he was an utter idiot for leaving you that long."

Luffy shrugged. "Wouldn't be the first time he's been called that, nor the worst thing anyone's ever called him. Now, it's your turn."

Nami looked away quickly, frowning as she thought through what she wanted to say. Eventually she told him about her adopted mother Bellemere, always encouraging her and her mapping skills, about her desire to make a map of the entire world. She said nothing about how badly that desire had been warped, how much she had lost because of it, or anything about Arlong. That was her cross to bear.

Despite that, even the childish dream she related to Luffy without all that background was enough to make him whistle in appreciation. "That's an amazing dream, almost as ambitious as mine or Zoro's."

"And that's all that is, just a dream," Nami said sharply shaking her head. "I've other priorities now. Dreams can only last for so long before reality sets in."

Luffy fell silent, frowning as he looked at Nami's body language and her face, which had closed down yet again. "Nami," he said softly, "I'll say it again, I'm your captain now, as your captain, it's not only my duty but my pleasure to help you face whatever you are having trouble it with. You don't have to face it alone."

Nami scoffed looking away. "Coming from a pirate, your word means nothing at all." Even as she said the words though Nami realized they rang hollow. But Luffy really believed his own words, and for some reason, Nami had to struggle not to believe them too.

Luffy shrugged his shoulders. "I was simply stating a fact when I said there is no pirate on the East Blue that can match me. There are nothing but weaklings in this ocean ever since my grandpa left. I would've thought my beat down of a former Grand Line pirate like Buggy would've convinced you of that."

Nami seized on the opportunity to change the subject, unwilling to really believe Luffy was telling the truth about that. She had seen his strength, but she had also seen Arlong's, and his strength was simply inhuman. "Who's your grandpa, you say that as if he's a real power in the world, even in yourmind."

"My name Monkey D. Luffy should've given you a clue," Luffy said with a grin.

Nami's eyebrows furrowed. "I don't get it."

"Monkey D. is my family name." Luffy said, his smile widening slightly. "Come on, you're smart enough to know the movers and shakers in the world, put it together."

It took Nami a few moments, but then her eyes widened and she paled, pointing a trembling finger at Luffy. "That's, you can't be serious! Monkey D. Garp, **he's** your grandfather?!"

"That's precisely what I mean." Luffy said with a grin.

"He was in East Blue! That's impossible! He's one of the greatest Marine heroes, why would he be in East Blue?!" _And if he was in East Blue why didn't he step in to save me_ _and my family!?_ she thought with more sadness than anger. _Am I cursed or something?_

Luffy shrugged. "He wasn't ever here for very long, barely a week at a time frankly, and the last time he was here was five years ago or so." His face became grim. "The World Government had to get him out of the way, had to return him to HQ and keep him there I suppose. He was too much of a straight arrow to go along with what happened and even after hearing about it he might've made trouble if he was allowed to."

"What happened?" Nami asked, forgetting her own troubles for a moment. Besides, she was logical enough to realize that if Garp was only in this ocean for a week at a time, then unless he had a reason to come to her islands, there was no way he'd find out about Arlong and his taking the island over.

Luffy scowled, turning away to stare out over the ocean. His mind however treacherously brought him back to that time. "I lived on Fuchsia Island and…"

 **Flashback:**

Luffy, Ace, and Sabo were running through the Grey Terminal, a miles wide area outside of the only true city on the island, as Luffy began to kick off her high heels, peeling off her dress in the same movement. Ace and Sabo both looked at her, blushes on their faces before they turned away shuddering dramatically and muttering under their breath. "God dammit Luffy, you have to stop doing that!"

"Suck it up ya perverts!" Luffy said, splashing herself with warm water. "Remember I wasn't the one who came up with this plan!"

"Still it worked," Sabo said, turning back now that Luffy was once again in his male body, and pulling on his shirt and trousers as he ran. He shook his head as the boy flipped himself up onto his hands for a moment hopping along on one hand as he pulled his pants on over his upright legs with his other. Sometimes Luffy's dexterity and body control could still astound him, even if Sabo's own dexterity was well beyond his years.

"True," Ace said with a grin, patting the large duffel bag over one shoulder. "I still can't believe they fell for that though, the forgery work we had done on those papers was the real clincher I have to say."

Luffy shuddered shaking his head as he finished pulling on his pants, thankful beyond words that no one had thought to check whether or not he was wearing underwear under that dress. He was of course, but boxers not panties. "I still find it bizarre that they were willing to pay so much for 'my hand'. Not, that I'm not worth it or anything, but buying another person is still so wrong to me. Even if it's just marriage licenses or anything like that. Smacks too much of slavery."

That belief did not consider the issues Luffy had with it that were entirely due to his previous lifetime as Ranma. The money though and Sabo's plan was too good to ignore. The individual made up in the story they sold the nobles they'd just scammed wasn't real, and Reisha looked nothing like Luffy's female body since they had dyed his hair purple, given her a pushup bra and contacts to turn her eyes green. _Need to remember to remove those when we get back._

"Preaching to the choir little bro," Sabo said with a groan. "The only difference between contractual marriages and slavery is that one of them is more open about its depravity than the other."

"Look on the bright side," Ace ordered, once again patting his backpack. "At least those two families not only have paid for it, but now look like morons for going along with the idea. I'd love to see their faces when they realize not only that Reisha isn't in her room anymore, but that nothing about her, not even her home island, is real!"

The money in the satchel amounted to around 7 million beli, which was a noble's ransom almost. It had been paid off to them by not one, but two families in a day as the dowry paid to the family of 'Reisha', a noblewoman from a family with a connection to the ruling family of 'Yokohama' (Luffy came up with the name) who were looking to use her to create an alliance between their family and a foreign family in order to open more trade between their islands. Having done it twice in one day was risky, but not as risky as trying it a second time after word could get around the first time. But even so they had nearly been caught hence their haste in leaving the city.

With that money the three of them could purchase both a way off the island and pay for their first ship. That was what this had all been about, the next stage to starting their dreams of becoming pirates.

Now that they were well away from the walls of the city the three of them slowed down, and Ace nodded to the other two, who nodded back spreading out slightly either side of him. Ace was the one carrying their precious cargo at the moment, which meant the other two had to play scout. The Grey Terminal was dangerous after all. It wasn't just junk out here but all sorts of undesirables, or rather what and who the nobles of the island thought were undesirables, were out here.

Some of them were simply families or people who didn't quite fit with the 'cleanliness' model of the city, for one reason or another. Others were shop-owners and other merchant sorts that had been bought out by nobles who wanted their property.

But then there was the third sort: thieves, cutthroats, murderers, and of course bandits. So long as it happened out here no one in power cared and a lot of people, even if they hadn't been forced out here for being bandits or suchlike originally, turned to that kind of life in desperation. Living on the edge out here was tough on anyone and morality wouldn't put food on the plate.

Sometimes Luffy pitied the people in this area and longed to help them but the corruption was set in so hard, and there were so many people who would rather prey on one another then take handouts, that there was precious little he could do. There were a few families he helped occasionally, hunting food for them and so forth in the jungles beyond the Grey Terminal, but that was it.

Worse, there were a few gangs that felt they owned the Grey Terminal, and while Luffy thought the trio could challenge them now, as young as they were it would still be a very close run thing. Worse, the man who all those gangs answered to, a man named Bluejam, had it out for Ace and Sabo ever since they had a run-in with one of his lieutenants a few weeks back.

Luffy hadn't been involved in that one, busy with his own training at the time and helping Makino out at the bar. But he heard about it later, and knew that even being back in the Grey Terminal at all right now was a bad idea.

 _Still, at least it paid well,_ he thought to himself allowing his eyes to stray from scanning the area around them to the bag on Ace's back.

Because he was so concerned about his surroundings Luffy heard a whispered conversation nearby, the speakers behind several piles of the junk that made up both the ground everything else around them. He held up a hand, flicking his fingers in an intricate pattern, and Ace stopped immediately with Sabo doing the same thing on the other side of him. Wordlessly both of the older boys moved towards Luffy. He held up two fingers again before wiggling them around indicating that there were two people talking.

Sabo had the best hearing of all of them, and he moved quickly to Luffy's side and up the hill of junk. holding up a finger indicating the other two should wait.

On the other side of the large amount of junk was a small family of four, three men, one older man and two boys both older than the three boys currently listening, and an aged woman. Of course, figuring out her actual age would've been impossible under the dirt and grime, but she was bent with age anyway.

"I don't know what it is," said the man, shaking his head. "But those bandits under Porchemy, they've been moving things around everywhere all around the Grey Terminal, even in areas they don't control!"

"I've told you before not to notice what goes on with that crew, they're bad business!" replied the woman wagging a cracked and broken ladle at the older man. "I don't care what they're up to so long as they don't bother us. We survive out here by keeping our heads down, remember that. I don't want a repeat of last year's beating." Her voice had started out stern, but ended tremulously, and she reached out to grasp the man's hand staring into his eyes soulfully.

The man nodded quickly, but even so said "I understand, but I'm just wondering if we maybe should pick up stake and move on **.** Whatever they're doing, it can't be good can it?"

"That's sensible at least," the woman said nodding her head and looked around their small campsite, shaking her head. "It's not as if we have much to move after all. You heard your father boys, let's get a move on."

Frowning Sabo slowly and carefully slid down the large mound of junk, entering the small hideaway Luffy and Ace had quickly excavated out of the junk pile to hide in while they waited. Reporting what he heard, both he and Luffy turned to Ace. Both of them knew he was better at figuring out what was going on with small bits of information than either of them.

But even he couldn't figure out much from that small a bit and the slightly older looking boy shook his head, long black hair falling into his eyes for a moment. "We need to find out what they're moving around. Bluejam might be a bastard, but he's a smart one. I don't like anything he's involved in."

"That bastard deserves a kicking." Sabo muttered, shaking his head under his overlarge felt hat, his eyes narrowed angrily as he gripped his pipe.

Luffy frowned shaking his head. "I think we need to look into this, but as good as we are you think we can take down his gang?" Luffy had been itching to try for a while, but his Rokushiki weren't that good yet besides his air walk, and while he was immensely strong for his body, that was only for his body. He'd learned in that fight in Makino bar not to rely on his skills and to remember that he was still a young boy, with a young boy's limitations.

Ace and Sabo looked at one another then slowly nodded. To them it wasn't as much about helping the people out here. Though they would admit to feeling somewhat sorry about the civilians' plight, neither were the type to play hero. But the idea of getting Bluejam back for his attempts to hunt them down had a certain appeal.

"Okay, here's what we'll do then. Will head to our hiding spot, hide the cash, eat something then come back here tonight. Luffy, you'll be on point for that." Luffy was easily the best one among them for sneaking around, even here in the junk lands. Luffy simply moved silently, able to put his feet down in such a way that the junk wouldn't even move, something that only Sabo could come close to.

Ace couldn't quite control his feet that well. But Ace was by far the strongest physically of them all, having taken to Garp's (actually Ranma/Luffy's) strength training better and more intensely than either of the others. He'd even begun armament haki training, and carried it further than Luffy had so far, though he hadn't awakened any Haoshoku Haki like Luffy had. But then again, since Luffy couldn't control his that didn't really matter.

That night, Luffy led the way through the Grey Terminal towards where they knew Bluejam was currently using as his base, stopping occasionally as they overheard voices in the distance this way or that. Nonetheless, with Sabo's hearing and Luffy leading the way, they were able to sneak through without anyone seeing them.

Once nearby, they took up a position outside a large warehouse made of rust covered steel slats, rotting wood, and junk like the rest of the Grey Terminal. Moving around the back of it, they hid themselves in the shadows of the building near where two of the slats didn't quite meet. There they stared inside, leaning in close to see what they could overhear.

Inside, all three boys were astonished to see a few of the dapper city guard surrounding a man that could only be a noble. He was a thin, effeminate man with a thin mustache and a sneering countenance. The man held a handkerchief up to his nose, while before him the larger forms of Bluejam and his lieutenant Porchemy sat.

Bluejam was a tanned man around the same height as Garp, though not as wide in the shoulders. He was still stronger than and just as fast as any of the three boys observing him in secret. He wore an old marine outfit, ripped and torn in places, with a sabre and pistol on his belt. His eyes were dark and almost dead looking. He called himself a pirate captain, but as far as Luffy knew he had never actually been out of the Grey Terminal.

Porchemy was slightly taller and broader than his boss, with a tattoo visible along one side of his body. His head was wrapped up with a bandage covering where his ear had been. According to rumors about the Grey Terminal Bluejam had cut it off for the man having been beaten by Ace and Sabo a few weeks ago. It was only the fact he hadn't actually been carrying the cargo, money extorted from the rest of the Grey Terminal's inhabitants, that had saved his life. The two of them had attacked him the day before the collection day.

"You're certain you've moved enough of those barrels around? This has to go off without a hitch," the prissy man was saying, his voice nasally even for the fact that he was holding his nose like that. He also looked somewhat familiar to Luffy, who glanced at Sabo.

Sabo caught his look and stared hard at the man, looking over to Ace for a moment. He looked at the man too before slowly nodding his head saying that he recognized the man too. "Could we have run into him on one of our capers inside the city?" He whispered, and the other two shrugged.

"It's done," said Porchemy for his boss. "We've spread those things as far around the Grey Terminal as possible, and hid them well too."

"So our business is concluded, so long as you have the other half of our money, we will finish our end later today," Bluejam said his voice a rumble, deeper than his subordinate's.

"Of course, here it is," said the man shaking his head and gesturing to one of the guards, who pulled out a large suitcase. The boys could barely see what was inside, but Luffy guessed by the size of the suitcase it might hold more beli than the trio had taken that morning.

Porchemy nodded to one of his men, who moved over and took it. "In that case, our business is concluded. Just be sure you've told the gate guards to let us in, or else…"

"Of course. Don't worry your place in Goa is assured. You'll be met at the gate with a letter of nobility just as promised. But are you certain you won't take that other job I mentioned? Bringing that boy back to his family would double the money I paid you for helping us with this plan." The noble asked, actually sounding as if he was addressing Bluejam as an equal.

Bluejam shook his head, his eyes narrow over his wide mouth with its odd spaced teeth. "No. That boy and the two he runs with are too damn good at sneaking around. I'd have to attack the mountain bandits in their own lair to be certain of finding them. And unless you're willing to give me some of your City Guard for the job…"

Narrowing his eyes, Luffy looked at Sabo, as did Ace. The boy had been open with them about his past after they had demanded to know how he knew so much about moving within the nobles. But the idea that his family might have wanted to bring him back was new, and Luffy wondered how they had missed hearing about 'Reisha's' brother when they were running their scam.

The noble shook his head and Bluejam nodded. "Didn't think so. No, there's no way I could capture that brat Sabo alive. Killing him might be easier if we can catch him here in the Grey Terminal, would that do?" He laughed then, a nasty, cold sound in the warehouse. "Then again, since the Grey Terminal isn't going to be here tomorrow, that's not going to happen."

"Indeed, though his death would serve just as well, the family only wish for him to not embarrass them further, running around with the rabble." The nobleman smiled thinly, shrugging her shoulders as Sabo stiffened in rage and, though he hid it well, a bit of sadness. "In that case I will see you this evening, my fellow nobleman."

Bluejam actually smiled at that, and the nobleman turned away moving off quickly with his guards.

Ace leaned forward whispering into his little brother's ear. "We'll wait until that man and his guards are well out of here then ambush the gang." Luffy was going to object, saying they should go after the nobleman, but Ace went on. "We can add the money to our pile, and figure out what the hell's going on from Porchemy and Bluejam. They'll know wherever this stuff, whatever they were hauling, is hidden. I don't like the idea of the Grey Terminal being gone, we gotta figure out what that means."

Luffy nodded, and they waited there. A problem occurred however because as they waited, more and more of Bluejam's men joined him, until there was a full forty or so men, near his entire gang. Luffy scowled, looked at his friends who both still nodded sharply, and he nodded back. This was going to be tough, but they were all raring for a fight now, eager to see if their training paid off.

Without another word Ace brought his fist forward, the fist gleaming black for just a few seconds as he smashed it into the side of the warehouse. The rusty metal shattered, almost exploding inward from the point of contact.

Amid the shouts of shock and pain from within, Luffy and Ace had jumped through the hole with Sabo right behind them. Sabo whirled his trusty pipe over his head, bringing it crashing down onto the first gang member turning towards them, while Luffy leaped up over his head to kick out hard smashing both of his feet into another man. Using that impetus Luffy threw himself sidewise into two more men. Hammering them aside he landed directly in front of Porchemy as he rose from his chair. Bluejam was elsewhere within the warehouse, out of Luffy's sight right now, so Porchemy would have to do.

 _Cripple the most dangerous target, come back and finish him off later._ His thoughts cold Luffy's fist lashed out catching the man in the side of his knee. He wasn't holding back either, against these opponents he couldn't afford to.

Porchemy screamed as his knee shattered, pitching him forward into it a kick from Ace who whirled through the fight. He fell unconscious to the ground, but as he did Bluejam appeared from deeper in the warehouse, his sabre in his hand as he fired his pistol at Ace, who dodged at the last second, grimacing as the bullet furrowed his upper arm.

Sabre whirling over his head, Bluejam closed on Sabo who dodged aside at the last instant, letting it thump into the ground. He couldn't dodge that kick that came a second after however, which sent Sabo flying backwards into a few of the thugs, who grabbed him, and hurled him down to the ground where he and several of the others began to kick him mercilessly. "GAHH!"

"Get away from him!" Ace was on them in a second, purling them off their friend, while Luffy got between the two brothers and Bluejam, leaping up into the air and staying there dodging this way and that using Air Walk. Normally he wouldn't be allowed to do that, he had promised his grandfather he wouldn't show off the Rokushiki skills he learned already, but in this situation he needed them.

Ace took a single shot from someone deeper into the warehouse grunting as it the bullet hit his thigh, nearly taking him to the floor. But it didn't and his punch took a man who had tried to bring down a club on him in the guts. Behind him Sabo got to his feet, his pipe in hand lashing out to take another man. That man flew backward, his ribs cracked.

That was the last thing Luffy could notice about that fight as Bluejam was on him. He was faster and stronger than any of the other opponents Luffy had faced yet in this new life of his, and he had yet to regain the speed and power of his old life yet. He had a few more tricks of course, but none that he had mastered just yet save the Soru and Geppo.

Even so, it was enough. Every time Bluejam swung his sword Luffy wasn't where it would land. Occasionally it got close, and once it even gave him a light cut along one arm, but Luffy's ability to move in midair was up to this task. His return blows smashed into Bluejam's defense, but the man was decent at dodging and did so after the first punch that he didn't nearly deadened his elbow.

Then a lucky blow caved in his eye. "Damn you!" Bluejam howled, once again bringing his sword forward.

But Luffy this time canceled his Air walk, ducking under the blow. A blow to the man's gut doubled him over, but Bluejam took it, his sabre slicing downward forcing Luffy to dodge to one side. Off balance slightly from his punch the slice still cut Luffy along his side, but the wound looked a lot worse than it was, and in retaliation Luffy's fist crashed into Bluejam's face hurling him backwards unconscious.

Ace moved to his younger brother's side, his face bloody from a lucky punch which had flattened his nose. His arm was also bleeding somewhat, but that was all. Sabo joined them quickly, and he was the worst off, limping and black and blue. But none of the gang members were upright, with only Porchemy and a few other wounded screaming or whimpering here and there in the torch-lit warehouse. "So… I guess we're getting our answers out of Porchemy now?" Ace asked, looking at the mangled face of Bluejam.

"Yes, exactly, that's why I crippled him." Luffy replied, to which both his brothers rolled their eyes, smacking the younger boy over the head.

The quickly made their way over to the tattooed gangster, with Ace going down on one knee in front of him. Of the three of them Ace was easily the most dangerous looking, he could get a look in his eyes that just would chill your blood. The look in his face right now was a very good example of said. "What the hell did Bluejam mean about the Gray Terminal not being here? What has that noble been having you doing?"

"Screw you punk," Porchemy growled.

Luffy looked away unwilling to look while Ace reached down to the man's ruined knee, his hand hovering over it for a moment. "Want to rephrase that?"

"It doesn't matter anyway!" Porchemy growled. "You'll never find them all in time!"

"Tell us anyway." Sabo ordered, bringing his pipe down to rest on the man's shoulder.

"You, you're the one, the noble brat who ran away? Why the fuck, why'd anyone want to ever give that life up!? Hah, but it doesn't matter." Porchemy glared at Sabo for a moment then grinned like a death's head. "You want to know why? Because the nobles are going to burn the Grey Terminal to ash!"

As the three boys stared at him in horror Porchemy went on seemingly taking delight in their horror. "They've got some big World Government bigwig coming in and they need all this trash gone. Bluejam made a deal, we do their dirty work, no way could they place the gun powder in the Grey Terminal without everyone here knowing what was going on. Then, we get paid and a place in the city! Bluejam becomes a noble, and the rest of us become his retainers. It would've been so glorious…"

"Where did you put it all?" Luffy asked angrily, grabbing the man by his throat and lifting him off the floor. All his worries about torturing information out of the man had just left his mind, and he was left with a sense of urgency and growing dread.

"Heh, I don't know, I only know the places where I personally put a few of the kegs, the rest of the gangs followed Bluejam's orders, but I doubt even he knows where they all are buried. And even if you tried you'd never find them all. The party's supposed to start tonight, whether we're at the gate or not!" Porchemy laughed again, right up until Sabo smashed his pipe down on top of his head.

Luffy let the unconscious gangster slide to the floor of the shack, looking at his two brothers. Even with the memories of his last life to call upon, Ranma/Luffy had no idea what to do. Ace and Sabo too seemed at a loss. Neither of them had the same urge to defend complete strangers as Luffy did, but neither were they heartless and there were at least a thousand people living in the Grey Terminal. "What do we do now?"

It was Sabo who finally got them over their shock. "We need to stop them. Didn't that noble say that Bluejam was the one who organized everything, that must mean the other gangs are the ones who are going to light these gunpowder barrels. We have to take them out!"

 **End Flashback**

"… We were able to take out two more of Bluejam's gangs before the others started to light the gunpowder barrels on fire. And then the City Guard began to fire into the Grey Terminal from the walls. It was hell, and a lot of people died. All because the nobles wanted to impress the Tenryubito." Ranma shook his head, his hands clenching and unclenching. "We did our best, but it wasn't enough."

Nami's face had first been amused at Luffy's description of his crossdressing, wondering if maybe the two of them and Makino might be able to pull off similar scams in the future. Then as the story went on her expression had segued into one of pure horror. "Why, in god's name would anyone, so many people, I just… **why**!?"

"Good question," Luffy replied with a scowl. "Like I just said, it was all to show off to the Tenryubito. The country was under review or something like that, and they had to get rid of anything 'ugly' before the bastard in question arrived. They didn't care about the lives of those already living there, it was a simple means to an end to them. We never discovered how many people died in that fire, but at least we know Bluejam and most of his men went up with their victims."

Actually, Luffy knew that a lot of people had lived through the fire that otherwise wouldn't have not only because of his and his brothers' efforts but because of unforeseen help from Luffy's father and the Revolutionary Army. Indeed, if not for the Revolutionaries and Dadan, the boys might not have been able to escape the conflagration themselves.

"I talked to my grandfather about it when he showed up again." Luffy said instead, going back to the questions that had started his tale. "I asked him if the Marines would go after the nobles or the Tenryubito and he just shrugged and told me to put it out of my mind."

Luffy scoffed spitting over the side of their small boat. "I think the moment he said that, he knew he'd just lost any chance of me being a Marine. He stopped training me after that but I had already seen all of the Rokushiki skills, even if I couldn't do most of them just yet. So that's when I decided that being a marine just wasn't for me. And it's also why I was so hard on Coby."

Nami nodded, her mind in turmoil from Luffy's story. She thought she knew evil, but even Arlong was small change in comparison to something like that. _My god, and those people call themselves nobles?_

It took Nami a moment to recover during which Luffy simply sat in silence, letting her regain control of herself. "I, I guess that it sort of makes sense that you'd want to be a pirate if the Marines couldn't do anything about something like that, but why didn't you become a revolutionary? Aren't they supposed to be fighting the fight against the World Government?"

"I could have I suppose," Luffy said with a faint smile, not giving any further hint about how close that decision had been, or why. "But again I'm not one for following orders or rules. Freedom and chasing my own dream is just as important to me than doing what I think is the right thing. So yeah, that's why I became a pirate."

Nami nodded slowly again, still taking it all in. Then she frowned. "Wait, what were your older brothers' names again?"

"Ace and Sabo." Luffy said with a faint smile still on his face, though it had become much warmer and markedly less crooked.

"That wouldn't be Fire Fist Ace would it?" Nami asked, her eyes slowly becoming the size of dinner plates. She didn't know the other one, but that one she definitely knew!

Luffy's smile widened and Nami threw her hands up over her face groaning as she leaned back kicking at him lightly with one of her legs. "How the hell do you know all these big names!? Shanks, Garp, and now Fire Fist Ace, one of Whitebeard's Unit Commanders?!"

"Yeah I know," Luffy laughed, shaking his head. "Don't know how that happened, he left on his journey two years back. But he sent me a message saying his dream to make me Pirate King had changed, he wants Whitebeard to be the King now. I gotta wonder what the Fire Fist thing is about though."

"Dreams again?" Nami said trying to put some scorn in her voice, but not succeeding at all.

"Exactly," Luffy said seriously, catching her leg when she tried to kick him in the shins again, patting her calf lightly before letting it go.

For some reason that mild touch caused Nami to blush, and she shook her head again. Just because they were alone out here didn't mean she could act like that, and she really didn't want to do anything that Luffy could take as a come-on. Admittedly he seemed a little naïve when it came to girls, at least judging by the way he refused to look at her at a time or two when she was trying to influence him with her body and Makino seem to trust him.

But Nami didn't have the familial relationship that the two of them seemed to have, and he was still a pirate. Nami was proud of the fact that there was one thing she'd never sold off and had yet to even give away, and she was going to keep it that way.

"So now that I'm done breaking your mind, let's talk about training," Luffy said after a few moments of silence.

Nami frowned but nodded. "I suppose that works. Is there any training we can do while on this ship?"

"Yep, In fact I think it's the best training you can get given your combat style. You dodge a lot, and this style will help you. It's called Kami-E and it allows you to sort of slip around attacks, as if the wind from the attacks push you away from the attack itself. It's all about predicting, sensing how your opponent's going to move and being ready for the attack, bending around it. It's a step down from what I would call Haki perception, but it's a damn good starting point."

The next few hours Nami went through the training as Luffy call it. She called it torture. He took small pieces of wood from the two spare rows and tossed them randomly at different parts of her body. Then as she was dodging them he would move in almost too fast for her to follow and flick out with a finger here and there at her body with punishing force. Not enough to bruise but certainly enough to sting. And of course he stayed away from her chest, which she was thankful for.

"I hate you," Nami's said, growling the words and thumping Luffy on the shoulder as they sat down that evening.

They would arrive at the Marine base in around three days, it wasn't a big one, but it would have enough money on hand to pay for Buggy bounty, hopefully anyway. It was the same one where the ship that had taken custody of Alvida had come from, but Luffy hoped they wouldn't meet with the same captain. He was already too suspicious of Luffy for his liking.

"No you don't," Luffy said cheerfully. _Man, is this how my old man always felt training me back when I was Ranma? If so that explains quite a bit._ "Trust me, you'll get it soon. You're already dodging a few of the attacks I was tossing at you near the end there."

Nami growled angrily at him, but subsided as he moved over to the edge of the boat. For a moment, she thought about pushing him in. She could do it of course, sneak up push him in, sail on and take the bounty for herself. It would be enough to almost put her over the amount she needed to buy her town from Arlong. But there were a few considerations stopping her.

First was the practical. She wasn't at all certain that Luffy wouldn't feel her coming up behind him, and no matter how nice he was an attack like that would probably set his teeth on edge at the very least. Two, even if she succeeded in pushing him in Luffy had impressed her all along with how impressively strong and durable he was. He could probably simply swim after her faster than the boat could move under wind power.

And three, she just didn't want to. Luffy was too nice, too nice to be a pirate, too nice for her to hate like she should because of his dream. But he was so strong it was kind of intimidating at the same time.

"Do you think I'll ever be as strong as you?" Nami asked before she could stop herself. Even though she knew Ranma wasn't as strong as Arlong, there was just no way that was possible, being stronger on her own and maybe valuable enough to win her town some more rights was a good idea.

"Depends on what you mean by strong." Luffy said, pulling his hand out from the water and showing her a fish. She gaped and he laughed. "A little trick I learned from another pirate acquaintance. A few of the people on his crew, they're always hungry, so fishing like that is kind of a must."

"I'm not even going to ask," Nami said dryly making a given here gesture.

The two of them fell silent as she chopped up the fish and Luffy got out a few other supplies, putting food together quickly. Then they just sort of sat there, staring out over the waters, each lost in their own thoughts, wondering how to take the conversation from here.

Nami abruptly broke the silence. "That heist you mentioned, I've done the same kind of thing a time or two. One time, I fooled this sheriff guy. He had a thing for gingers, plus he'd just confiscated some old, really expensive paintings. Anyway, I…"

The night passed like that with Luffy telling stories about how his curse had gotten him into trouble, and Nami telling stories about famous heists she'd done. Neither of them were willing to talk about deep topics again, or at least Nami wasn't, not yet, not with a pirate. But it was hard for her to remember that Luffy was a pirate at all when they were just talking like this. When you saw that smile under that straw hat and those blue eyes the idea the young man before you was a pirate was the furthest thing from your mind.

For his part, Luffy once again found Nami very good company. She was a little domineering when it came to ordering him about when the wind or current changed. But considering that Luffy didn't know anything about navigation Luffy was willing to let that go. Some of her stories about her past heists made him laugh aloud at how stupid men could sometimes be.

So the three days passed as the two of them continued to get to know one another. Watching Ranma practice his skills by bouncing along beside the boat or swimming along in female form after training with him Nami determined that yes, signing up with Luffy until he raised his pirate flag for real was a very good idea.

Luffy in turn laid out his basic plan. He would spend two or perhaps three months in the East Blue collecting bounties and training with Zoro while also possibly recruiting other members for his crew. Then he would head to Logue town, the town where the Pirate King had been executed, the town of the beginning and end, which also served East Blue as an entrance to the Grand Line. There he would buy the best ship he could, before heading on to the Grand Line. He hoped to have a cook by then, and possibly a shipwright, a full-time navigator and a purser by then, though the purser wasn't a necessity.

His plans seemed sound to Nami, even if this whole idea of becoming Pirate King wasn't.

If they stuck to that plan and Luffy proved up to the challenge of the bounties like he said, then Nami knew she could earn the rest of the money she needed and then some. _And,_ said a small thought in side of her head more than once, _maybe if you see Luffy in action some more, you'll begin to believe him when he says he can take on anyone in East Blue. Maybe he'll earn your trust too, not just your interest._

On the morning of the third day Nami noticed some telltale telling her they were within a few hours of the marine base. When she informed him, Luffy quickly dumped himself with cold water, changing into his female body. Nami then watched in something approaching amused shock as the redhead, without any sense of female modesty, quickly changed in front of her, getting back into the same near-cowgirl outfit she had been when they first met. _Huh, so she's a natural redhead._

Just as Nami predicted two hours later they were close enough for the lookouts on top of the marine base they were approaching to see them. From far ahead of them cannon blasted out, the watchers on top of the Marine base warning everyone that there was a small ship approaching.

Moments later, a few sails appeared over the horizon, a marine schooner coming towards them. Seeing it was a small sloop with only two people aboard and they were girls of all things, the ship simply moved around them, as the lieutenant in charge shouted, "State your business!"

"Bounty hunters here to drop off a bounty," shouted Luffy, her voice a bellow that seemed incongruous coming from her short frame.

The man nodded, and turned around, gesturing them to follow his schooner in, joining a second schooner tied up to the wharf. This base was a stand-alone marine base, with no local civilian population on the island to support it, so it's base was more open, with farming areas set up around a freshwater well, a few cannons set up on short towers on either side of the bay. Nami noted it wasn't deep enough to handle a full Marine galleon, hence the schooners, which were normally used as the eyes and ears of the larger vessels.

He was there when they came ashore, along with the base commander, an older man missing an eye and a leg, with a massive scar visible running down from his neck to below his shirt. "Your name and the name of your bounty?" the older man said briskly, as another marine held up a bounty book and two more brought out a table.

"Buggy the clown is the bounty, and Ranko is my name," Luffy said, pulling out Buggy's head.

A few of the Marines took a quick step backwards at the sight, but the captain was made of sterner stuff, leaning down and frowning at it. He took it from Luffy turning it over to look at the neck, which didn't look like it had been cut.

Before he could ask, Luffy pulled out the large barrel containing the rest of Buggy's body. "He's got a devil fruit, allows him to part his body somehow to avoid attacks. Keep his body in enough seawater and he can't even wake up. So long as you keep it that way, you shouldn't have any trouble with him until he's jailed or whatever you lot will do with him."

"What about the rest of his crew?" The schooner captain asked.

"Taken down by my team and me." Luffy said with a shrug. "They're over at Orange town, but we've also taken their ship. Unfortunately, we haven't found any of their loot. They'd apparently just stowed it someplace, then got nearly sunk by a storm and put into Orange Town a few weeks ago."

Luffy tried to keep his irritation out of his voice, but he didn't succeed entirely and more than a few of the Marines grabbed their weapons tighter as they stared at the small yet very angry sounding redhead. "He destroyed a ship I'd ordered, so I'm taking his."

The older man simply nodded while the younger set scowled at that news before he sighed. "So long as we can collect the other pirates from his crew there, that's fine."

"About half of them died in the battle, including his first mate, Caba-something?" Luffy said with a shrug. "Otherwise they're there. If you want to examine the bodies of the dead by this time I'd imagine they been buried so that's your problem."

The marines all frowned at her manner even further, but backed down as Luffy's blue eyes went around them, challenging each in turn, a challenge none of them were willing to take up. "I'll just go get your money for you," the older man said with a sigh gesturing to one man came forward already carrying several bags. "You do good work, and that info on Buggy's Devil Fruit will save a lot of effort."

They counted out the money over-the-counter, and Luffy held back a giggle as Nami hugged each bag to her in turn, crooning at it as if the bag was a baby before setting it lovingly down in the hold. "Pleasure doing business with you," Luffy said as they finished with sardonic smirk, tipping a pretend hat towards them before hopping back into the boat.

A second later Luffy kicked off away from the wharf, and then took up the paddles paddling them out of the small bay. Once out, she followed Nami's orders to set up the sails, and they were away. Looking over at the orange haired girl she laughed. "Are you just going to sit there and hug those things all day?"

"Yes," Nami said giggling a little as she held the large bag of coins to her. "Just a little more," she said, not even noticing she had said it aloud, though Luffy did.

Luffy filed that away for now before trying to make a joke of it. "Okay, do you want some alone time with the money?"

He wasn't joking later on as Nami actually made a bed of the money to sleep on. _Right, of course how silly of me to think that any person I asked to be part of my crew would be normal._ Luffy thought, sighing as he stretched out once again in his male form.

 **OOOOOOO**

That evening the old marine commander stared across and the ocean in the direction the small ship had taken as it moved out of sight over the horizon, pulling the spyglass away from his eye. _There is something about that redhead, something strangely familiar and off-putting in her smile. Then there was her stance. As if surrounded and outnumbered 120 to 1 she had been the one in command of the meeting not us. I would've tried to haggle, but something told me that would be pointless, and possibly a bad idea._

"Tell me, did one of these sketchers get a good look at her?" he asked aloud, looking over at his second-in-command. "We might want to keep an eye on her in the future. She's definitely one to watch if nothing more than for her skills..."

 **OOOOOOO**

Jumping up onto the quay in Orange Town Luffy stared up at Buggy's former ship, shaking his head slightly. "You know, I knew you were going to have it repainted, I just didn't think you'd be so thorough."

"You like?" Makino asked, smiling proudly as she gestured at the townsfolk's handy work.

Buggy the clown's ship had originally been painted a garish purple color along with orange highlights in places particularly around the cannon holes. Near the front, it had a circle like a target on the front, with three smaller cannons sticking out on little swivels, the purpose of which Luffy didn't really understand when he had first spotted them. Until he realized they were to be used only after the ship was actually docked. At that point you would be able to fire down and forward, to give your men cover fire. It was actually a better idea than Luffy would have thought coming from Buggy, but then again the man was a Grand Line vet, which he had shown in their fight.

Now the whole thing was painted dark blue, with a few white streaks here and there. It's white canvas sails were now painted dark green scales and the bounty flag, a Beli sign on either side of the marine symbol, painted on the largest sail.

"It looks good," he said nodding his head. "The repairs are all done?"

"All done," Makino said with a nod. "The townsfolk have been especially helpful, we got all the repairs done within a day of you leaving. The paintwork took a bit longer, as did provisioning the ship. Though we don't have as much cannons as I would've liked, we had to take a few of them out."

"That's a little irritating," Luffy said but then shrugged. "I figure so long as we can return fire in some way, that's fine. After all I can always close with whatever ship we meet up with. Besides, to fire the cannons we'd have to man them, and I don't know about you, but I can certainly find a better way to spend my time in a fight. Where's Zoro?"

"Do not speak to me about Zoro!" Makino scowled, flaring up angrily. "He never even tried to help until we got to rearranging the interior of the ship and even then every afternoon he went off alone to train. Whenever I tried to find him he'd disappear as soon as he walked around a corner!"

"Oh my God he really is Ryoga come to life again," Luffy murmured to himself shaking his head.

"What was that?" Nami asked, cocking her head at him.

Luffy shook his head. "Nothing. So are you and Zoro ready to go, Makino?"

"If you can find him we can go, I've given up looking for them because every time I do we just get lost again." Makino replied tartly, then smiled brightly at Nami, moving over to link her arm with the other girl. "Why don't you go and do that, and Nami and I can have a bit of girls talk. Unless of course you aren't staying with us?"

"I've decided to give it a try for now," Nami said, prevaricating slightly.

Luffy nodded, his own voice nearly overriding hers. "She's agreed to stay with us until Logue Town at least. She still won't tell me what she needs all that money for though, other than using it as a mattress."

"A mattress?" Makino asked cocking an eyebrow at the younger girl.

Flushing angrily Nami pointed at Luffy. "At least it keeps me asleep through your damn snoring, that'd be enough to wake the dead!"

Makino laughed, and Luffy laughed too, leaping up onto a nearby rooftop and away before the mayor, who had been hurrying down the dock towards them could reach him. The older man looked after him for a moment, then shrugged his shoulders and looked at Makino and Nami, ignoring the odd looks they were getting from the other townsfolk. "I take it he's satisfied with our work?"

"Extremely." Makino said with a smile. "We'll be going as soon as he finds our fourth crew member." Turning to Nami she asked, "Did the Marines say when they'll be by for the prisoners?"

Nami nodded her head. "They said they'd route one of their schooners out here as soon as possible. In fact I'm surprised we beat them here. It might be a good idea to move on before they get here."

Luffy returned moments later, with Zoro trying to catch up to him, only not moving nearly as fluidly over the rooftops as Luffy did.

They leaped down onto the wharf talking about some kind of training that Zoro had been doing, the green haired older boy nodding his head seriously as Luffy described something in his legs patting his thigh and knee occasionally. "If you're up to that point," Nami and Makino heard as the two boys closed, "then we'll start an upper body next, and start some real spars whenever we can. Full on spars might not be a good idea on a ship, even one this size, but we can still try."

Zoro nodded. "Have you been inside yet? Come on, I'll show you the exercise room before we go, just in case you can think of anything else we could add."

The _Big Top_ had originally had two decks devoted to its broadsides, but this was no long the case. The first deck had been turned into an exercise room. There were a few benches laid out, with weights made of fused together cannonballs, and amusingly enough two actual cannons with a bar set underneath them. There was a heavy mat set on the floor near the entrance, several dozen swords arrayed along one wall, and a few other pieces of random equipment.

"Nice," Luffy said approvingly looking around before pointing at the swords. "Why're they here though? You offering to teach Nami and Makino sword fighting?"

"Feh, that would be a waste of time. Neither of them have the drive necessary, and they've already got weapons anyway. If you order it I might teach them how to hold a knife right, but that's about it." Zoro shook his head, gesturing down to his belt were he wore all three of his swords on one side, with the white-hilted blade in pride of place at the top. "I've gone through a lot of swords since setting off on my journey. They tend to break if I use them with my full strength. This way we've got a few spares."

"Makes sense, good thinking and don't worry, I'm pretty sure Nami and Makino both can point a sword in the right direction as it is." Luffy nodded, still looking around, underplaying Makino's skill by quite a bit, but it was true that she really wasn't a swordswoman. "Hmm… did you grab up any of the musket balls from Buggy's crew?"

"No just the cannonballs, why?"

"Good training tool for Kami-E and eventually Haki, the black skin technique you saw Makino use." He grinned at Zoro. "It's possible to arm your body and your weapons with your spirit in a way, making them superstrong, and you can refine the technique to add to your sword's cutting power, or so I've heard. I'm not a sword user, so I haven't gone that far with it."

Zoro's eyes lit up eagerly. "When do we start training!?"

"I'll start you off with more katas for your upper body when we're out to sea, but you'll switch off legs and upper body day on day off. Since I assume we'll be fighting at sea a lot of the time, Geppo is essential to have a full range of movement." Luffy frowned, looking at the other young man. "I don't know if you'll like the Kami-E technique, but you might want to look into it too. It's basically dodging with style, but incredibly useful for that. Soru is good for closing or getting away from enemies, and is a must to learn Geppo and Rankyaku."

Luffy went on to explain the second technique he wanted all of his crew to learn from the Rokushiki as he already had to Nami. But as he had thought, Zoro wasn't as interested in learning that just yet. He wanted to concentrate on the more offensive styles and the Tekkai, which played to his own style. After saying that, Zoro cocked his head. "You've mentioned five techniques, what're sixth?"

"Shigan. Shigan's a killing technique, changes your finger into a spear basically." Luffy shrugged. "I don't use it except in dire circumstance, and I'd prefer not to teach anyone how to. Not only is it too dangerous to use except in life or death situations but of the Rokushiki, it's the one which will bring the most attention on anyone who knows it. Knowing the rest can be explained away, but that technique is only taught to really high ranking marines or World Government sanctioned assassins. I'd prefer we don't bring that kind of attention down on ourselves just yet."

Zoro frowned thoughtfully, tapping the white-hilted sword for a moment. "I see your point. I can kill if I have to, but going out of my way to learn a technique designed for murder is a bit much. Can learning it help me toward this Haki thing?"

"No. Kami-E can for Kenbunshoku, as can Tekkai and Geppo for Busoshoku, building up your strength, durability and ability to anticipate attacks. But Shigan can't help you with any of those. In contrast Rankyaku can get you used to using long range-speed based attacks: it's basically waves of air pressure that you can use to attack from long range, which I bet you could learn to use via a sword."

"Then I won't learn it." Zoro shrugged then clapped Luffy on the shoulder. "Come on, let's get out of here, the sooner we do, the sooner we can start training."

Luffy laughed and the two men walked up onto the deck. Nami and Makino were already there directing a few of the townsfolk as they loaded up the ship with food and other supplies. Makino had even thought to ask for a few medical supplies just in case. She knew Luffy's training could be extreme, and had seen Zoro was pretty much the same way.

Sidling up to Nami he tapped her on her shoulder, cocking an eyebrow. "Just want to make sure, you did leave them enough treasure to pay for repairing the town right? I'm not going to have to search yer room, frisk you or anything to make sure?"

"Hah, you wish I'd let you frisk me." Nami said, shaking her head and leaning forward slightly to let Luffy look down her shirt.

He blushed and looked away, causing her to smirk in amusement before she sighed and answered more seriously. "You convinced me that taking everything Buggy had would make us just as bad as he was, so yes, I left enough for them to pay for the repairs to the town." Just the town, and even that she'd haggled over with the mayor and others a lot before leaving with Luffy to the marine base. But Buggy's bounty had made her happy enough to not come back to it after they returned.

Manning the sails with just four people on a ship this large would've been an issue if either Luffy or Zoro were normal people. They weren't and with the two of them on the sails, Nami shouting orders on how she wanted them, and Makino at the tiller, they were soon on their way out of the small harbor, even taking the time to wave goodbye to Mayor Boodle and his people. They had all gathered at the docks to wish the foursome well.

Zoro chuckled as he took a break from working the sails, looking up at Luffy from where he was pulling some of the ropes taut. "This is kind of weird, we're technically pirates, and we're getting a hero's farewell? I don't want to be a hero!"

Luffy shrugged his shoulders. "I've never considered myself a hero, I mean I know I'm a selfish bastard sometimes, but why don't you want to be one?"

"Exactly! A hero would share his sake, I want to keep it all to myself." Zoro said with a grin.

Luffy blinked then laughed as their ship continued on its way.

True to his word Luffy began to train Zoro that afternoon, putting him through the first stages of his upper body exercises, then seeing how far he had gotten with his leg strengthening exercises. While Zoro was working on that, Luffy grabbed Nami from where she had taken over the captain's quarters and put her through her own exercises to teach her Kami-E.

Later that evening as Makino set out food around the mainmast, Nami glared at Luffy, rubbing at her sore side. Next to her, Zoro leaned against the mainmast staring out over the ocean, occasionally sipping from a mug of ale as he rubber his thigh with his other hand. "You are a monster, you know that. First wooden chips, now musket balls?"

"Hey, I only mixed in two musket balls this exercise, and you dodged one of them. That's incredible progress for only six days work." Luffy laughed before looking at her bruised side. "Do you want me to do something about that?"

Nami's eyes narrowed suspiciously. "What would you do?"

"We've got some ointment, I could rub it into the bruise, it might make you feel better." Luffy shrugged as Nami shook her head, flushing slightly. "Suit yourself."

He took a long draft from his drink, which wasn't alcoholic unlike the mugs in the other's hands. Makino refused to let him drink most of the time, which he thought was rather unfair considering he couldn't remember what he had done to make her scared of getting him drunk in the first place. Shaking that thought off, he looked over at Zoro. "What's up with you?"

"Just thinking, I can think of a lot of ways the upper body strength will come in handy, but I'm just trying to picture how to work being air type mobile into my style." Zoro's eyes flicked over to Luffy. "How long did it take you to work it into yours?"

"Well I'm not a swordsman, and I was trained in a style that lends itself to remaining in the air." Luffy replied, smirking internally. _Understatement of the century._ "As for you, I can see your point since you won't have stable footing to work with. But I can't help you much there, sorry."

"It's fine, just the training you're giving me is already helpful. I wouldn't want to take more handouts anyway."

"They aren't handouts Zoro, we're crewmates now." Luffy replied firmly. "That means we help one another, not only live on the same boat. We help one another get stronger and in turn that will help all of us achieve our dreams."

Zoro looked at him for a moment, saw the conviction, the eagerness in Luffy's expression then laughed as Nami looked away, trying to hide how that little speech had impacted her. "Fine, but I have to tell you I'm going to be bored just with these exercises. Tomorrow I want to spar with you for real, I want to see how far I really need to go before I'm ready for the 'real world' as you put it when you freed me."

Wincing Luffy looked around at the _Big Top_. "Well, it was a nice ship while it lasted." Both men laughed, clinking their glasses together and drinking a long draft each before Luffy turned to Nami. "So, navigator-chan, where do you think we should go from here?"

Flushing slightly at the nickname Nami reached out to slap Luffy upside the head, glaring at him, her guilt caused by his speech gone for the moment. "Don't call me that!" As he rubbed the back of his head and smirked unrepentedly at her she sighed, pulling out a small map.

It was one of her own maps of the East Blue, and wasn't what she would call a map. It was very basic, more of a memory aid than a real map. It just had some notations here and there on currents, local normal weather, wind speed, the outline of a few islands and so forth, all of it written small so as to fit on the parchment, which was a square whose sides were only about the size of her forearm. That way it was easy for her to cart along with her on her travels.

Looking over the younger girl's shoulder Makino whistled appreciatively. "This is amazing Nami-chan."

"This is nothing, just a few notes, not nearly enough detail to be a real map." Nami replied, waving off the compliment even as she preened slightly. Despite all the trouble she had gone through thanks to her navigation skills it was still nice to have someone see how good she was at it.

Rolling the map out on the deck she put small pebbles at each corner before, without any kind of preamble or need to look for landmarks, put her finger precisely where she knew the ship was currently. "We're here. There are two islands within less than a day's sailing excluding Orange Town, but neither of them is inhabited. If we had to stop for provisions I'd recommend we do so, but as it is, there's no need."

Luffy leaned forward, looking at the map but couldn't make much out of it other than the outlines of the islands, small marks on the map here and there. "If we're really going around looking for bounties, we should head northeast from here, towards these islands over here. Rumor has it that the Woonan pirates left a treasure in this area, and there are a few pirate crews operating there trying to find it. One of their captains, El Drago, has a bounty of eleven million beli, and his second in command is a swordsman who has his own bounty of eight million."

"Swordsman?" Zoro said, leaning forward intently, his face lighting up with eagerness.

Nami nodded, rubbing her hands together mentally. Her cut from those bounties would give her enough money to finally pay off Arlong. She traced out the route to those waters, then circled them with her finger, showing where the Drago pirates were supposed to be operating. "I think it's the best bet not just because of that rumor but because of the rumor about the Gold Pirate Woonan's treasure being there. I've even got a map that's supposed to show the island where it's buried!"

Then she sighed, visibly reining in her enthusiasm. "But again, that's only rumor. The only certain sighting in the area, the only one I know the source of and would trust, is about another pirate, the Itou pirates, and their captain only has a measly million bounty."

Reaching into her ki-enlarged sack Makino pulled out a book of bounties, ignoring Nami's bulging eyes as she saw the older woman stick her entire forearm into a small waist pouch. Rifling through it, Makino found the bounties in question and set them aside before pulling out the two highest bounties known to be in East Blue. "I think we should try to start from the top, after all the more high end bounties we get the more money we have, then we won't have to do so many."

Catching a glimpse of Sawtooth Arlong's bounty, Nami almost panicked her face hardening noticeably for just an instant before her self-control came back. None of the others caught this thankfully, and when she spoke her tone was almost nonchalant. "I don't have any information about the fishman, so unless anyone else does?"

She waited with baited breath and breathed a mental sigh of relief when no one took her up on that gamble. Just because he was a pirate was no reason to guide Luffy right to his death after all. "Well since the big name's location is unknown, we could look for the Krieg pirates. Mind you, He's not called the Pirate Admiral for no reason, he's got an entire armada of fifty ships, so going after him would be a bad idea too, unless we could somehow sneak in, take him out and leave."

Nami caught an odd sort of knowing smirk on Luffy's face as she said that, but he didn't say anything.

Instead Zoro spoke up. "That only means he's got numbers on his side, numbers alone don't mean anything, or else we wouldn't have been able to get away with taking on Buggy's crew." He smirked suddenly, tapping his swords. "I bet that we could take them on easily enough."

"Thankfully I have no idea where they operate, so we don't have to feed your raging insanity," Nami said, shaking her head. Then she went on to outline what she knew of the local weather, and reiterated again what the best idea for them would be in the short term.

Eventually she stopped looking at Luffy. That was what she remembered later, looking at Luffy waiting for his decision. Because it was that moment where Nami knew she had first acted as if she felt Luffy was her captain.

"Nami's right about that being our best bet, but I think Makino's got a good point about starting at the top. I had a chance to check out Morgan's marine base, and he had some information on Krieg, who all the marines in East Blue are supposed to avoid now thanks to his numbers. The rumor said that he was going to try to enter the Grand Line himself, so he would be…" Luffy trailed off, looking at Nami.

Nami quickly oriented herself on the map again, tapping the far south eastern tip and tracing a large circle around it. It did include her own home island, but Nami figured that was safe enough given the amount of area it covered. "Around here then. But if we're going to be searching for them, then I think we need to set a time limit on how long we look. And if you're just going to barge in like you did with Buggy, you can count me out right here!"

"We'll think of something later, let's move toward that area anyway, we'll see what happens." _Trouble tends to find me even if I'm not looking for it, so if I do go looking for it, trouble, in this case pirates, should find us all the quicker._

Nami shrugged. "So long as the ship doesn't sink with your madness I'm fine with that." unsaid was that she would take all their gold with her if that happened, but instead of getting angry or anything else, Luffy simply laughed again.

"We've told you before Nami-chan, there is no pirate in East Blue that is a real threat to Luffy." Makino said, laying a hand on the other girl's shoulder. "That includes Krieg with all his numbers. Or do you not remember the amount of damage a well-placed Rankyaku can do?"

Zoro grunted, smacking a fist into a palm as he did as if that hadn't occurred to him, while Nami frowned before getting it. "Oh, Luffy can just bombard them from the sky then? I completely missed that idea." She stuck out her tongue, rubbing the back of her head, looking rather cute for a moment. "My bad."

Such a tactic wouldn't work on Arlong of course, so Nami once again ignored Makino's words about how strong Luffy was. But maybe against someone who just relied on numbers it would. "Okay, in that case we should take this course here…"

The group broke up soon after going about their various tasks aboard or in the case of Zoro, back to training. After pulling the sails around in the right direction Luffy took the lookout position as Nami retired to her room to update her charts and Makino took the tiller.

Taking a break to stretch her legs Nami Looked around the room she had taken for herself, shaking her head. Any other pirate captain would have taken over this room and kicked her out to join the rest of the crew, but Luffy hadn't even blinked when she moved in, not seeming to care at all. _He's such a weird guy, even if you ignore the curse. And really nice too, and strong…_

Shaking her head again Nami slapped her cheeks, trying to get that thought out of her mind. _Stop it Nami, as nice and even funny as Luffy is, he's still a pirate, and still not strong enough to face Arlong. No one is, or else the marines would have moved against him already. Especially if one of their heroes was in this water._

Nami's mind tried to treacherously replay Luffy saying his grandfather had been recalled because he didn't like some of the things happening in East blue, but Nami ignored it, repeating the mantra that had kept her going for so long. _Just a few more million beli, just a few more and you'll have enough money to buy the village. Arlong won't go back on his deal, he just won't, you're maps are too important. Remember that, remember what all this is for…_

 **OOOOOOO**

The next morning after sleeping strangely well for her first time aboard a new ship Nami woke up to a crash from further forward. Grumbling and pushing herself out of her bed, she moving down the ship's hall into the mess, only to stop and stare.

Zoro's head and upper body had crashed through the wall separating the kitchen and mess from the training room Zoro had made, and as she watched he grunted, trying to push himself out. To one side, and acting as if she hadn't even noticed, Makino hummed to herself as she moved around the kitchen preparing breakfast.

The green-haired woman turned, smiling at Nami and gesturing toward the table, small for a ship this size Nami thought. Obviously the rest of the crew was supposed to eat in their bunks or out on deck while the officers used this table. Nami noticed the woman had already set out a plate of bagels.

"We really need to get a cook at some point Luffy. I am fine with doing the cooking for now, but I don't know enough about dietary needs at sea or about using leftovers and unusual ingredients to make food to keep the position." Makino said, joining the other girl at the table. "Food's on."

"Finding a cook good enough for the crew of the Pirate King isn't exactly like picking up apples Makino," Luffy said, his voice heard through the hole made by Zoro's head. "He has to be good enough both at cooking and looking after himself for the position. Now are you gonna pull yourself out of there so we can continue Zoro, or was that all you got?"

Growling angrily Zoro broke himself out of the hole enlarging it by several feet. "Hah, you wish!"

"Oy, stop breaking our ship fool!"

"You're the fool, fool, you're the one that kicked me into the freaking wall!" Zoro roared back, his swords flashing out only for Luffy to dodge around them like he was a feather in the wind.

"True, well at least we weren't planning to keep this ship for long." Luffy mused, then lashed out with a punch that nearly caught Zoro in the face despite telegraphing it.

With that he charged towards Luffy and Nami turned away as the sounds of battle echoed into the kitchen. "Is it going to be like this every morning?"

"Maybe when we're not otherwise occupied." Makino laughed. "You'll have to get used to the sounds of combat and training if you spend any time at all with us Nami-chan. Luffy loves training like you apparently love money."

"I don't love money!" Nami replied before her lips quirked and she shoved the older girl in the shoulder lightly. "I just tell it that to get it into bed."

Makino laughed and the two fell into an easy conversation, picking up where they had left off the evening previous before Nami asked Makino to tell her how she and Luffy met. That segued into how Luffy had fought to protect Makino and her bar from mountain bandits, and how Shanks had saved them. Realizing at that point who the man Makino was searching for and why, Nami could only shake her head, astonished she had ever thought Makino was normal like her.

 _Going into the Grand Line to find one of the Yonkou in order to… what, castrate, marry, yell at? Whatever her reasons, going to sea to find a Yonkou at all is crazy as hell!_ She looked up as Zoro's body crashed through the weakened hole. He skidded backwards across the floor, his two swords crossed with the one he was holding in his mouth, grunting under the impact before regaining control of his feet and charging right back through the hole. _What kind of crew have I joined up with here?_

Sighing Nami finished her food and after helping Makino clean up went to take a shower. The _Big Top_ had a large water cistern, so they could actually have showers instead of bathing in sea water, which always made Nami itchy for days afterwards. The shower area had been designed for the entire crew of course, there being no women among Buggy's crew. But it was still a decent shower.

She stood in the shower, letting the warm water cascade down her body, soaking her orange hair as she enjoyed the moment of pure bliss. Just now, she refused to think, refused to let any of her thoughts about this crew, about her goal or her troubles bother her. She just wanted a moment to simply enjoy her shower, ignoring the ongoing noise of combat to her side.

This moment was swiftly interrupted as Luffy's head erupted out of the wall. Zoro had gotten a lucky blow in, and though Luffy had blocked the sword, he could do nothing about the momentum, stuck at the time too close to the forward facing wall of the training area which abutted the back wall of the shower area. Luffy's fist had been smashed into his chin smashing his head back and up in turn.

"Damn that was a good blow Zoro, but I, I, Ieee…." Luffy trailed off, his eyes taking in the form in front of him.

His head was currently at about waist level with Nami as she stood below the shower head she was using, his head thrown back in a way that almost forced him to look up at her. From this angle he saw the lower side of her breasts, wet and jiggling slightly from her shock and the shower, capped with dark pink nipples barely visible from here. Beyond that view, was Nami's face framed by hair matted to her head by the water, staring down at him in shock which was quickly giving way to anger. "Er… would it help if I apologized?"

"You, you, you pervert!" Nami shouted slamming her fist down on his with the superhuman strength of enraged women everywhere. Then as Luffy groaned from that punch she leaped backwards, punching out hard once more.

Luffy's head came out the hole in the wall like a cork shot off a bottle his entire body catapulting backward slamming him into an unsuspecting Zoro. the swordsman had taken the time to step back, resting lightly from their spar. "Gahh, what the hell Luffy?"

Luffy tried to quickly untangle himself, his head throbbing and a large bruise appearing on his head. "Fly you fool, fly!"

"What?"

Then Nami trooped into the training area, an aura of red and orange all around her, her face screwed up into an expression of rage that Zoro could only label as demonic. Zoro hadn't thought much of her before this, certainly he had never thought she was scary, or threatening at all. He found himself reevaluating that belief now.

She stood over them, her fingers cracking. "You two…." Then she punched forward, slamming her fists down on both their heads, sending them down to the floor before grabbing them by their shirts and, once more showing a strength Zoro had never expected from her, hurled them towards the staircase leading down into the training area from the deck. "Take it outside!"

As the two young men grumbled and disentangled themselves Nami huffed angrily then froze, realizing she had just assaulted not only **the** Pirate Hunter Zoro, but a pirate captain. Even setting aside the fact they thought she was part of their crew, no pirate captain in their right mind would put up with that from anyone.

But to her shock Luffy simply walked up the stairs, ignoring her and rubbing at his sore head with Zoro following. It took a few moments for Nami to realize that not only had they listened to her, but neither had even seemed to care about their own dignity, or putting her in her place. _No, not like normal pirates at all._

That night Nami walked out onto deck, intent on relieving Luffy at the tiller only to stare into the sky, feeling the wind on her skin. She swiftly turned around shouting down that hatch. "Makino and Zoro get up here, we're about to enter a storm front!"

As the other two raced up on deck Nami moved forward, staring out into the night then down at the water passing by the ship before holding up a finger gauging the wind. "Alright, the wind is coming from north, northwest, Zoro, on the mainsail, Luffy keep at the tiller, I'll join you there, Makino, you join Zoro on the sails, we'll want…" Nami continued on barking orders like a veteran seaman as the others leaped to obey her, none of them even arguing let alone the ostensible captain aboard.

The storm hit about five minutes later just as Zoro and Makino finished their work. At Nami's direction Luffy had turned the ship slightly, and the wind hit the sails pushing them taut quickly and moving the ship along. She looked over as Luffy began to laugh even as he changed forms, the rain activating his curse. The now redhead grinned at the taller girl, still holding the tiller easily on course despite the loss of height. "Well, isn't this fun Navi-chan?"

"Don't call me that!" Nami shouted back to be heard over the storm, shaking her head at the other 'girl's' attitude. "And how can you be having fun? This ship might be large, but it's obvious why it got so badly damaged before we met Buggy and his troupe! "

"Meh, if I die in a storm, that's all my life was worth, not that I think a mere storms enough to see off anyone aboard this ship now!" Luffy replied, laughing. "Besides, moments like this make you feel alive Navi-chan, this is an **adventure**!"

Nami gaped at the redhead for a moment in silence before her face broke out into an unrestrained grin as she laughed, forgetting all her own problems for now.

 **OOOOOOO**

Despite Nami's concerns the _Big Top_ weathered the storm. Despite that, Luffy was forced to realize that for a ship this size four people was just not a large enough crew. There were too many jobs that needed doing for too few hands. In calm waters they could handle it, but not in a storm.

"So we might have to ditch this ship faster than I thought," Luffy concluded, nodding to Nami who had been the one to broach the subject a second ago. All of them were now sitting out on the deck while Makino watched the tiller. "That sucks."

"It's a tough ship, tougher than I thought, but yes, we need more crewmen to really control it," Nami reiterated, fighting back an urge to yawn. "We can make do for now, but the closer we get to Logue Town the more uncertain the weather becomes. I can spot storms coming, but actually doing something about them would take more men, and the storms in that area would make last night look like a slight drizzle."

"No way, this ship is the perfect size for our training!" Zoro objected. "We'll just need to rig up some pulley system or something? Or maybe you can do some actual work for a change girl instead of just giving us orders."

"Excuse me!?" Nami growled. "Just where the hell would you be right now if not for me huh? I was the one who saw that storm coming, and I **have** to order you lot around since none of you have enough seamanship to sail out of a tub!"

Just then there was a 'sploosh' noise followed by a low whistle and Luffy looked around in surprise. "What was that?"

 **OOOOOOO**

"Ship off the larboard bow! It looks like a large galleon, but it's got Bounty Hunter marks on the sails captain!"

"What've I told you about calling me that, Kuro's the only captain of the Black Cat pirates." The speaker was a tallish, thin man with an equally thin goatee wearing large sunglasses and a coat that looked right out of the disco age. He was twirling two chakram around on his fingers at the moment as he stared up at the lookout who had finally spotted the enemy. "Have they seen us yet?"

"No captain, they don't seem to have a lookout of their own, they are simply following a course south and west. And I can't be sure at this distance, but there seems to only be four people aboard!"

"Weird, but not our concern. If they are moving off like that, I say we let them go and continue on our own course. Kuro's expecting us to be close by soon and we don't want to mess up one of his plans do we?" He shuddered at the idea of failing his bloodthirsty captain, all too easily remembering how Kuro had faked his own death after slaughtering an entire crew of marines bar the one he had chosen to be 'his' killer.

"Oh come on captain Jango, their ship is huge, and there's only four of them aboard! They must have lost most of their crew in a fight recently, and no way could four people fight that galleon!" Said a third voice, a large, obese man dressed up, disgustingly enough, as a catboy, complete with ears, feet and claws. Despite the coedic look however, his claws looked sharp. "We haven't had a good raid ever since Kuro left, this could be our chance. And Kuro's plan was for us to arrive there tomorrow anyway, we've got time."

Jango the hypnotist slowly nodded. "Alright, let's do it. Helm, bring us around and lets close. I want a few warning shots fired first, then go for the kill!" there was a roar from the rest of the Black Cat pirates all around him, and he turned back to the fat man. "Get you brother up Bucchi, just in case we need you."

 **OOOOOOO**

"Huh, so we're under attack," Luffy mused cocking his head as he stared at the rather bedraggled looking galleon with the furry demon creature on the prow bearing down on them. It had fired a single shot from its sole forward facing cannon, and was now trying to turn to bring its broadside to bear.

"We must look like easy marks I suppose, but that ship looks as if it's crew has seen better days," Zoro replied, sounding just as calm as his captain. "And I've never seen that pirate mark before."

Makino shook her head, moving to take up the tiller. "I think I have. Not certain where though."

"AAGHH, how can you three be so calm, they're attacking us! Someone fire back at least!" Nami shouted, grateful they had furled their sails earlier as they took a break.

Luffy shook his head. "Nah." He jumped into the air flashing a leg out lazily to smash a cannonball aside with a Rankyaku. The ball blew up as the blast of wind hit it and he tchhed. "Still not up to cutting iron darn it."

Zoro watched this intently, looking between where Luffy's attack had flown and his own blades, imagining it, his shoulders and arms tensing and un-tensing. _Interesting, and cutting iron hmmm…_

"Well then just bounce over there and do something about them!" Nami ordered, pointing at the ship.

Laughing Luffy nodded, hopping into the air. "I'd challenge you to see which of us beat more of them Zoro, but I suppose you can just wait here until the fight's over if you want to."

"Haaah? Was that a challenge captain?" Zoro asked, but Luffy was already off bounding away through the air, and Zoro growled angrily as the other ship began to turn, its cannons firing one at a time as the _Big Top_ entered their firing envelope. "Damn it."

"I thought you were training in Geppo, Zoro," Makino asked from the tiller as Nami moved over to him.

"I'm not up to hopping that far." Zoro shrugged. "But at least I can man the cannons if you two can turn us in that direction."

"Well since you said yesterday you learn more actually fighting, why don't you get to it!" Nami said her voice at first sweet before turning into a growl as she pushed him in the back and over the side of the ship.

"Gah you witch!" Zoro roared as he fell towards the churning ocean. Getting his feet under him, Zoro quickly began to kick rapidly. Despite his earlier protest he was able to bounce there in place for a few moments as he stared up at Nami.

"The attacking ship is that way," Nami said helpfully, pointing in that direction. "And Luffy's already started, I'd suggest you get a move on if you want to really give him a run for his beli in that challenge he issued Zoro."

"Damn witch, going to get back at you for this!" Zoro roared, before moving in the direction Nami had indicated. Unlike Luffy's flight his was far more haphazard, and he sunk several times to just above the waterline, but he still made progress, hopping through the air like a, as Makino put it later, 'drunk rabbit'.

"Ah, that made me feel better for some reason," Nami mused, which caused Makino to laugh.

Luffy had taken out the other ship's masts first, a single Rankyaku blasting through all three to crash alongside the ship, pulling it to a halt as they smashed against the side of the ship. Having seen what Nami did, and laughing at the other man's misfortune Luffy waited, dodging any muskets balls coming his way easily but otherwise just keeping the pirates attention on him until Zoro arrived.

He shuddered a little at seeing so many people wearing furry demon paraphernalia. Two of them in particular had taken it to extremes, not at all helped by the fact they were damn ugly. "Some kind of fetish group or something?"

Zoro arrived then, smashing face first into the enemy ship's side, skittering downward for a moment, his last kick not having carried him in the direction he had wanted it too. "Graah!" Eventually though he righted himself, bouncing up high enough to grab at the bulwark and haul himself over onto the ship.

"Get him!" Shouted a pirate and several dozen men raced for an opponent who they could actually grapple with, unlike the bastard bouncing in the air who had taken out their sails.

"Come and get me then!" Zoro roared, taking out two of his swords and smashing or battering them aside, shouting up at Luffy. "I'm going to get that witch for that!"

"Meh I think she was right, you do learn more actually fighting than doing the exercises. But I suppose to be fair we'll have to have her fight the next pirate crew we meet." Luffy mused, alighting on the deck.

Immediately he began dodging this way and that as pirates gleefully rushed him, thankful he had actually come down where they could get at him. their thankfulness ended the moment he started to attack in turn, hurling them around with punches or kicks that left the target feeling as if they had just been hit by a cannonball. "Besides this way we can have that contest. Seven."

"Five, six! What about stakes?" Zoro asked, continuing to cut through the crowd of pirates.

"Hmm, how about being the girl's gofer when we get to a city where they can go shopping? Nah, that's too cruel. Hmmm… twelve, bragging rights not enough... I'll have to get back to you on that one."

With that Luffy ducked his head as a chakram of all things zoomed through the melee around him to nearly hit his head. It bounced off the shattered remains of the mainsail behind him to smash into his head, sending his head forward slightly. Over the din of battle he heard a voice shout out "Yes, did you see that, that was awesome!"

Shaking his head from the impact which hadn't even been enough to make him activate Tekkai, Luffy caught the chakram before it hit the deck, using it to smack aside or block the swords still trying to cut at him. "It's only awesome if you call it!" He shouted.

The voice replied allowing Luffy to pinpoint where the speaker was. "Oh that's bullshit maANN!" the voice broke off dodging to one side when Luffy hurled his chakram back at him. The chakram whirred through the space his chest had previously occupied to smash into the afterdeck behind him.

"Captain Jango they're too strong!" A crewman wailed.

"Nyaban Brothers, take that swordsman!" Jango shouted holding up his other chakra from a string. "The rest of you look at this!" The crewmen not currently engaged with the two invaders turned and looked, and Jango the hypnotist smiled evilly. "When I say Jango, you all will be superstrong and feel no pain, one, two, Jango!"

The men around him roared as their muscles burst through their shirts and they charged forward with a will, all hesitation gone. But as Jango made to step back, a hammer came through the air to smash into the side of his head, knocking him down and out. His crew however didn't even notice caught up in the ongoing battle.

Bucchi and Sham raced forward, unable to use one of their better ploys, which was to try and look unthreatening in order to close and use their Cat Thief skills. But in a battle like this they didn't have enough time and with Zoro already engaged with their crewmates they simply charged forward, using the mix of speed and strength that had made them the chosen ship guards of the Black Cat pirates.

Zoro found himself pushed back for a time, forcing him to change from using two swords to his normal three for the first time in the fight. He looked on in shock as the crewmen all became superstrong, attacking with more power and even speed than before. But after so much training with Luffy over the past few days it wasn't enough to overcome Zoro.

Blocking several blades at once he smirked around Kuina's blade at them all, laughing evilly. "This is nothing against the captain's training, Tatsumaki!" With that shout he hurled his body around in a tight spiral, his swords moving so quickly they conjured up a tornado which grabbed the pirates around him and hurled them away, slashing and blasting. Many of them fell into the ocean alongside the ship, others smashed into the deck here and there, but all of them were out of the fight. "Twenty-nine!"

Buchi and Sham found themselves facing Zoro alone now, and before they could move he was on them. "Onigiri!" Sham was able to dodge this fast, but very straightforward attack, but Buchi went down, his massive frame cut and bleeding horribly.

"Buchi! Curse you to Davy Jones, I'll gut you forRR!" At that point Luffy interrupted the remaining fetishist by using a random crewman as a club. The crewman's skull smashed into Sham's and both of them went down in a heap.

Looking over at Zoro, Luffy smirked. "Thirty-two, and it was two for one!"

"Oh shut up, I just sliced fifteen of them in one go!" Zoro riposted, and the two continued, making short work of the crew while Nami and Makino, with a lot of difficulty it has to be said, turned the _Big Top_ around.

Looking round at the remains of the ship Luffy shook his head. "Who the heck were these guys anyway?"

Picking her way through the debris Makino began to flip through a book of known pirate marks Garp had given her along with the bounty book, staring up at the flag then around at the ship. "These are the Black cat Pirates I think. Their captain was captured several years ago and executed it says here. Odd that they are still in the area, I suppose this hypnotist fellow took over. He has a bounty though, 9,000,000 beli."

"Good money then." Zoro shrugged his shoulders, cracking his neck explosively as he stared down at his swords, one of which had broken. His white sword however remained as pristine as ever. "I figured I'd need replacements, just not this quickly. The speed and power of my strikes is different even after so short a time training with you Luffy."

"We'll have to see about getting you some better quality blades Zoro. If we get to the point where you can use Armament, even doing that to a regular weapon will eventually destroy it. For now, Nami, Makino…" Luffy paused looking around. "Where'd Nami go?"

"All that for nothing!" shouted Nami's voice and Luffy and the others turned to stare at the afterdeck where Nami had just appeared, kicking one of the pirates through the open doorway to land in the heap of his unconscious companions. "They've got nothing down here! Barely a thousand beli all told, and they don't even have much food."

Frowning Luffy shook his head. "Weird, but we're not in the business of solving minor mysteries like that, and Makino says their captain had a high bounty anyway Nami so cheer up. Where's the nearest marine base from here? Don't tell me it's the one we were at before, that'd be irritating."

Pulling out her trusty map once more Nami positioned herself by looking over the side at the current and up to the sun for a brief moment before nodding, making Luffy's admiration for her skills grow further. "I think we have a few choices here. There's a nearby town, but it's doubtful they'll have any World Government reps., so no way to pay off the bounty. We could dump the rest of the crew there though."

Tracing out two routes she frowned imperceptibly as one of them took their ship far too close to the area she knew Arlong kept to. "There was a marine presence operating in these oceans here, but it's chancy if we'll catch them. Or yes, we can return to the same marine base as before, there aren't that many bases around you know. Unfortunately that is probably the only sure bet. Unless you want to head to Logue Town now, start using that as a base for further bounty work."

"No, I'm not bothered about the rest of the crew, and we've got more than enough supplies. We can give our coordinates to the marines, let them come and clean up after us again. Dump their cannons and the rest of their weapons over the side. Tie up those two fetishists and bring them along just in case, but the rest can stay here." Luffy shook his head. "As for using Logue Town like that, no, that's just asking for trouble given the size of the marine presence there. I suppose we'll just have to go back then."

The other three nodded, and they broke up to various tasks, unknowing of the plans and destinies they had just derailed so innocently.

* * *

 **End chapter**

And canon is my plaything MWAHAHAHAH. Anyway, here is where even the crew starts changing further with Luffy and co. not meeting that box guy or going to Ussop's island. Their reasons for both were the same, the need to stock up, and in this fanfic, Raffy (Ranma/Luffy) doesn't have the bottomless need for meat that Luffy had. He might have gone looking for Yassop's son too, but Raffy wasn't nearly as close to him, and indeed didn't really like him much in comparison to the others in Shanks' crew. And no pirates equals no plan for Kuro, though he and Ussop would undoubtedly have their falling out regardless. Still, I'll show what happens with Kuro in the next chapter, I have plans there, oh yes…

As always I hope you all enjoyed this, and please review.


	4. Chapter 4

Not Oda or Rumiko.

This is for those of you wondering about Usopp, Kuro and what all goes down there. I can assure you that it is a… unique set of circumstances.

For those wondering, I will be posting the two monthly updated stories Tuesday at some point.

Once more this has been edited by myself and Hiryo. No doubt we have missed some mistakes, but I will be going back and correcting chapter 3 tomorrow based on Riniko22's review on it. If you see any mistakes, tell me and I will try to correct this chapter tomorrow as well.

* * *

 **Chapter 4: Dreamers Unite**

 _Where are the Black Cat pirates?! Their ship was supposed to be here days ago, but not only has Jango not shown up, but I haven't heard anything about him or the rest of the scum!_

 _Calm down Kuro,_ Kuro of the thousand plans thought, even as he went through his but their duties with his normal brisk efficiency. _Think, don't let your thoughts show, consider the angles, there must be a way to salvage the plan, I won't allow the past few years of serving that little girl and her parents to go to waste!_

Normally Kuro would have a backup plan, but he needed Jango's hypnosis. Without that, he couldn't convince Kaya to make him the sole inheritor in her will. _The rest of the plan is replaceable, any crew of pirates can be induced into attacking a soft target like this island, but Jango_ _ **must**_ _hypnotize the girl into doing that. And there must be some time between the will being signed and sent to the bank before her 'untimely' demise in a pirate attack. It would look too suspicious if the girl died of the same wasting disease as her parents, especially after so long being merely sick._

 _Could Jango have struck out on his own? Doubtful, it would not fit his mentality, still it is obvious something has occurred. I need more information, which unfortunately means a trip to the nearest Marine base. Jango had a bounty on him. Unless he ran into another pirate group which could overcome them, which is doubtful given the Nyaban Brothers, he will still be at the nearest marine base waiting transport to Impel Down or the execution block in Logue Town. If he is there, I can break him out in some fashion, cause a riot among the other prisoners perhaps, sacrifice the rest of the crew to get him out cleanly. Information damn it! And a patsy perhaps._

That evening as he was serving Kaya dinner in her bed, 'Khaladore' broached the subject with her. "Ojou-sama, I wonder if you would be alright with me taking the Going Merry for a few days away from the island?"

Kaya looked up from her meal, startled. "You've never asked for time off before Khaladore-san, of course you can. But is there any particular reason?"

"I wish to catch up with an old friend of mine who serves in the marines, He apparently will be at the nearby base for a few days, as his ship is taking on supplies." Kuro lied smoothly.

"Oh! Is that why you…" Kaya faltered, looking away, casting a sideways glance at Kuro's face, which still showed the black eye Usopp had given him under the cracked lens of his glasses.

Kuro sighed theatrically, nodding his head as he expanded on the lie he had fed her easily. "Of course, that is one of the many reasons why I have problems with Usopp-kun being so proud of his father. Having a friend in the marines as well as an uncle at one point has given me a very accurate view of what pirates are really like, unlike the boy's dreams and imaginings."

"I see. I, I don't think Usopp has it in him to be a pirate at all frankly," Kaya said softly, as if by saying the words aloud she hurt her friend somehow even if he was nowhere nearby. "If he did he would've left already, wouldn't he? He's just a dreamer, but he'll grow out of it." Kaya went on, not looking as if she was as certain as she was trying to sound.

"Perhaps," Kuro said diplomatically. "But in any event, as to my question?"

"Oh, of course!" Kaya said, quickly perking up. "In fact, if you want you can take Merry with you. I am uncertain one person could sail the Going Merry alone."

"I actually thought about taking Usopp along, as a sort of peace offering as it were." Kuro said cautiously. Taking the boy would make a decent patsy, useable in various ways. And if nothing else, Kuro would also get some personal satisfaction from killing the boy and dumping him over the side like the trash he was.

"That's a lovely idea," Kaya said perking up even further and Merry smiled as well. Khaladore was truly a gentle person, this show of remorse for his part in the confrontation the day before was very welcome.

For all his skill at tall tales Usopp wasn't very good at spotting a liar. When Khaladore approached him about the idea, Usopp simply nodded eagerly, happy not only to make up with the butler who controlled how often he could see Kaya, but also to head out to sea and see what it was really like. The idea of spying on the marines, getting to know them from the inside out, was also an interesting one.

As they worked the sails waving occasionally to Kaya who had come down to see them off, Kuro smirked. _The plan is still salvageable, all I need is Jango!_

 **OOOOOOO**

The ship called the _Big Top_ from its former inhabitants and now the _Inglorious Bastard_ by three out of its four current crewmen had proven to be just as much trouble as it was a help. Even with Luffy's skill at Geppo, Zoro providing pure strength, Makino manning the tiller and Nami obviously providing the mental power, operating the large galleon was still a hassle in any kind of bad weather. Twice in a week since they had dropped off Jango with the marines the ship had nearly floundered.

Despite that, Zoro, Makino and Luffy were learning the ropes quickly under Nami's 'gentle' instruction. The Orange-haired girl was not only a magnificent navigator, who had navigated them straight to the area where their first bounty had last been seen, but also a source of knowledge for all things nautical.

Despite that, they hadn't actually found the bounty they were in the area to search for, thought they had found a smaller one. Luffy shook her head as she remembered the absolutely pathetic fight said bounty and his crew had put up. "Honestly, who sticks a crab claw on his hand?"

"That was indeed very odd," Makino said, and while she and Nami moved towards the boat, smiling down at Madaka. She was a local girl who had attempted to attack them when they landed on the island thinking they were pirates here to join the group already oppressing the locals. "And his crew wasn't much either. Very rude little boys."

Luffy resolutely did not look back to where Makino had drilled a particularly lecherous person into the ground with a Haki-infused punch. She couldn't use Haki for very long, and her Observation type was actually quite poor, worse than Luffy's own. But she could call upon Armament Haki quickly if need be. And oh boy had that man paid for his comment.

Nami on the other hand had just went to town on a few of them, gleefully taking out days of irritation at Luffy's training out on her unsuspecting targets. Zoro hadn't even bothered to pull out all three of his swords, using one of the two cheap katanas the Bastard was overfull of to destroy everyone in his way.

"Why don't we stay here for a while." Zoro asked from where he was trudging next to Luffy, who had changed into a girl when they spotted the island. "We could use the greater space to spar without damaging the ship."

"You're learning," Nami said dryly dragging along a very small bag of valuables. "That would get my vote too, but we'd probably have to stay here for at least a week, the weather's shifting which means this island's going to be hammered by storms for a few days."

That small bag was the totality of the treasure Luffy would allow her to take a slightly larger bag had been left behind for the locals, though even combined it wasn't much treasure. The crab crew had been trying to build some kind of giant cannon, and had spent most of their money on transporting materials for it to the island. Not that the giant cannon in question had amounted to much, Luffy had destroyed it in a single Rankyaku. But claw-man's bounty was enough to make up for the trip out here.

The rest of the pirate gang had all been tied up and placed on their ship without any weapons clothing or food, which had then been dragged out to sea by Luffy. The pirates would be far too busy trying to survive to think about getting back to the island, and now armed with the pirates' own weapons the people of that island would have a much better chance of protecting themselves.

"I don't think so," Luffy said with a shake of her head. "It's a nice idea, but I'd rather keep moving myself. I'd like to hunt this El Drago guy down, hopefully he'll have a ship that's more our size."

"But then we wouldn't have room to practice at all!" Zoro growled. He was learning a lot from Luffy every time they fought, but the ship really was cramping their ability to spar.

Luffy shrugged her shoulders, a smirk appearing on her face. "That'll just give ya more incentive to learn Geppo then won't it, Zoro?" She said, stepping out from the shore into the air.

Zoro growled, turning to take up position at the oars of their rowboat. He was able to use Geppo somewhat already, as evinced by the battle against the Black Cat Pirates. But controlling it, and using it for long, that was another story.

"At least you don't have to go through that stupid dodging practice," Nami growled, sitting down with Makino on the rowboat.

"You're getting better though." Luffy said then backed away as Nami turned to her, glaring at the redhead, teeth gnashing as if she was a shark waiting to pounce on her. "You are!" the shorter girl went on quickly. "When we started you could barely dodge any of the pellets, now you dodge at least six out of fifteen."

"Wow, so I can dodge a full two fifths of the attacks you launch my way!" Nami replied, growling the words as one hand strayed to the thigh where her collapsible staff was strapped.

Makino chuckled, putting an arm around the other girl and squeezing her shoulders as Zoro began to row. "Nami-chan you don't have any idea how lucky you are. In comparison to some of the ways Garp-san trained Luffy, hurling tiny pellets at you is actually quite humane."

"That thought feels me with dread," Nami said shaking her head.

Luffy ignored this byplay, turning to make her way back over the water to their ship. Once there she tied up and gagged their prisoner around the mainmast. Not only did he have a crab claw on one of his hands, he had a nasally voice, and Luffy wasn't willing to listen to it rant and rave at them.

With that done, Luffy took the time to change back to his male form, happy as always that the water attraction aspect of his curse hadn't crossed over. T _he idea of me being able to stay dry while on a sea voyage would have been laughable back in my old dimension, but here I can, weather permitting._ _ **Awesome**_ _._

The now male Luffy frowned as he spotted some kind of smudge on the horizon, and turned as the rowboat pulled up next to the galleon. "Let's get under way quick, there might be another ship out there and I don't want us taken at anchor."

Makino raced up the rope Luffy tossed over the side, making her way quickly to the winch controlling the anchor. Nami scrambled up after her then moved toward the aft deck. Grabbing a spyglass from near the tiller Nami held it up to her eyes. "I can't see anything… wait yes, there's another sail out there just barely over the horizon."

"The wind is blowing south, southwest," Nami murmured then began to shout out orders to Luffy and Zoro, who had already begun to move the sails in the correct direction. Soon the sails caught the wind, and Nami quickly pulled the tiller, slowly turning the ship around and away from the island they had just been on.

It turned out that the ship they had seen hadn't spotted them, or had no interest in this island, since it had moved away from them nearly straight west. Nami frowned, letting Makino take the tiller as Nami began to pour over her map, frowning thoughtfully. "There should be another island a few hours away, one with a massive butte on it. That's where the rumors about the Gold Pirate Woonan says he was from."

"Gimme the spyglass for a minute," Luffy said, landing next to her. Nami obliged, watching as Luffy hopped into the air, rising straight up over the ship until he was at least six or seven stories higher than the Crow's Nest. He hovered there, bouncing off the air for a moment as he put the spyglass to his eye and stared all around them, finally spotting the ship he had noticed before.

Waiting for a few moments, he tried to zero in on the people on the ship. It took him several moments, but he was able to make out enough detail to both shiver and nod.

Falling back down to the ship, Luffy flipped himself off the mizzenmast to land lightly on the gunnel, nodding his head. "That's El Drago over there, and he really does look like some weird human l-lion hybrid from what I can make out anyway."

Nami frowned at him, wondering yet again what was up with Luffy and lions. _Yes, having a healthy respect and fear of lions is normal, but Luffy isn't! A guy who can do what he can put he's still afraid of lions? Strange. Then again, I suppose anything strange would fit right in with this crew._

Makino pulled out the bounty book, which she kept as part of her job as acting-purser. None of them were willing to let Nami do that job, and Luffy and Zoro didn't care enough. "The 14,000,000 Beli El Drago, hmmm…"

She frowned, looking at a little note at the bottom. Flipped further through the book, she stopped at another bounty picture. "This says that he also has a crewman who also has a bounty, the swordsman Golass, 8,000,000."

"Swordsman?" Zoro said looking up from where he had been sleeping against the mainmast, one hand clenching at the swords at his side. "I remember now, that was why we were in this area in the first place!"

Makino and Nami both sweat-dropped as the thought _talk about a one track mind_ went through both their minds at once. Nami however shook it off quickly. "Right, together that's actually a pretty sizable bounty, and maybe they also have some valuables too! Heck, if they are in this area, they might be in search of the Gold Pirate Woonan's treasure, and might even have some clues we can use to find it instead!"

"Then let's head in that direction," Luffy said with a shrug, dumping a small pale of water over her head to once more don his female, bounty hunter form. "Though I wouldn't get your hopes up about Woonan's treasure, that kind of thing never lasts very long you know?"

"But no one knows where he hid it all, and there's only a few rumors that say he came from around here, and there's never been any rumors of anyone finding it, which considering the treasure was supposed to be enough to fill a dozen ships there would have been! No, it's still out there, but I bet there are a series of clues or something like that, and you have to piece them all together to find the trail!" Nami explained, her eyes gleaming eagerly as they always did when talking about money or valuables.

"We'll see, but I'd think taking the 12,000,000 beli bounty on El Drago would be better than spending time searching for a treasure that may or may not exist." Makino replied, while Luffy shrugged disinterest, turning around to change back to his female form.

Money for money's sake didn't interest Luffy, just as it had never interested Ranma until his father's troubles came home to roost. Luffy was using hunting for bounties as a way to get to know his crew while also taking the time to train them, and it had paid off in that area tremendously already.

The other ship was still a dot on the horizon well out of cannon range when Luffy's hearing saw a blinding flash of blue-ish alight coming from the other ship. Some kind of attack came from it, heading towards the _Inglorious Bastard_.

Luffy leaped forward over the front of the ship, her leg shooting down. "Rankyaku!" Her attack smashed into the water between the incoming attack and the _Inglorious Bastard_ exploding upwards, creating a makeshift shield. The water took the attack, not allowing the attack through to the _Inglorious Bastard_. "Makino, Nami, man the cannons! Zoro, be ready to follow me in!"

With that Luffy began to hop through the air towards the other ship, having to stop and cut the water again twice to block further sonic booms. She could hear a shriek at the start of each attack now. Once Luffy also had to dodge an attack coming her way, but the person on the other side of the attack, El Drago, his features and appearance now actually visible, figured out quickly he couldn't tag the girl in the air. Two more times after that he tried to tried to attack the _Inglorious Bastard_ , only for Luffy to block each attack.

By the time Luffy reached the ship, the two ships had been moved within extreme cannon range and begun to exchange fire the normal way as El Drago gasped in air holding his throat, sore from the multiple attacks he had launched. The ships began to maneuver, though the enemy ship didn't seem to be any more maneuverable than the _Bastard_ with only Zoro, Makino and Nami aboard. That was odd, but not important.

Luffy decided to cut things short, launching an attack of her own at the ship, a sharper "Rankyaku!" than the versions she had been using to make the massive water waves before this. The wind cutter slammed into the mainmast and the two masts on either side of it, cutting them cleanly. The wind immediately pulled the sails over the side where they began to act like so much deadweight, pulling the ship around slightly and causing it to list badly.

Seeing this Nami and Makino ordered Zoro to toss the anchor over the side. The two women and Zoro used the sails to twist the ship around until it's port side faced their opponent's prow, out of its own gun's firing line. The _Bastard_ didn't have as many cannons as it had under Buggy, but it had enough, all of them loaded. As Zoro leaped into the air, Makino and Nami ran from one side of the gun-deck to the other, lighting fuses.

"BABooooom!" The cannons roared, followed by an almost equally loud crunch of shattered timber. That single broadside pounded the other ship into pieces from one end to the others, causing more than a few deaths as the cannons and the splinters of their impact did their horrible work.

Luffy landed on the deck of the ship, looking around for El Drago or the swordsman that was part of their crew, wishful to finish this quickly. At the same time Zoro took to the air bouncing haphazardly towards El Drago's ship, coming close to dropping into the sea several times, and once again smashing his face into the side of the ship before flipping himself up and over the side to land on the deck. "Damn it, I hate Geppo, I swear I will master it eventually!"

Able to keep his feet under the enemy ship's pounding better than his boss, Golass charged Luffy. His massive sword came off his shoulder in a downwards strike towards Luffy with enough power to bisect the little redheaded woman who led this attack on them in two.

Luffy ducked under the attack, grabbing Golass' arm and flipping him over and towards the far end of the ship from where she had landed. Zoro moved toward him quickly, blocking his next attack with his own blades and beginning their duel quickly.

But this moment had allowed El Drago to regain his breath and his feet. He charged forward, slicing and hacking at Luffy with his apparently gold clad nails. "Damn you, you little red-haired bitch! You'll never take my gold!"

Up close Luffy had a single moment of dread at how much like a furry demon the man looked. But then El Drago began to curse the redhead volubly, and that, coupled with the fact he looked more like a lion than a real furry demon let Luffy break out of it quickly. She attacked quickly, smacking El Drago's arm aside and pummeling him with a few punches hurling the far larger man backwards.

Nami watched the goings-on through her spyglass then shook her head at Makino. "That one broadside was enough I think. That ship's already listing badly, and I doubt the boys will have to deal with much of their crew. They seemed undermanned before our attack though nowhere near as much as us. Now..."

Makino nodded understanding, looking queasy. She'd killed a few times before this in self-defense, but she had never really gotten used to doing so. And she knew from talking with Shanks and his crew that dying in a broadside like that was never an easy or painless way to go.

On the other hand Nami was quite a bit more callous toward pirate lives, with reason of course. "We'll wait here until the boys signal they're done, then we'll get Zoro or Luffy back over here to do some paddling. No way are two fragile ladies like us going to be able to row this massive ship over there, and the wind's not coming from the right direction either."

Zoro blocked and battered his opponent sword downward, locking it there, frowning angrily at the taller man, who was trying desperately to free his blade, unable to overcome Zoro's brute strength. "Your sword is weeping!" Zoro growled harshly. "I don't know why you're on this boat, and I couldn't care less, but seeing a swordsman of your caliber treating his skills and his sword so cavalierly pisses me off!"

That seemed to galvanize Golass off and he hurled Zoro away, overcoming the younger man's strength for a moment. When he tried to attack again however, Zoro had already struck, his sword lashing out faster than Golass could track.

The attack cut into the man from shoulder to hip, sending him staggering backwards in a spray of blood. The man stumbled backwards a few more paces still holding his blade and staring at Zoro. He stood there immobile as a statue before falling to his knees as his eyes folded back in his head and he collapsed, overcome by the pain.

"Find a real reason to wield your sword and maybe you'll be worth my time." Zoro said harshly, flicking his blade to one side to get rid of the blood.

He turned just in time to see Luffy finish off El Drago. There was a sound of some kind of thrumming in the air, and Luffy's arm disappeared even to Zoro's sight for a moment. An instant later El Drago's gold armor and the rib cage under it, shattered under the blows hurling the larger man into the air. Before El Drago's howl of agony could finish reverberating over the ocean another blow hammered into his temple, sending him into lala-land.

Sighing as the captain collapsed, and hearing the screams from a few wounded throughout the ship, Luffy turned to Zoro. "Well, that fight was a little better than the last one anyway."

Zoro was about to reply when they both heard what sounded like a young boy screaming, though thankfully not in pain. "Wh, some, somebody help me!" As one the two of them raced over to the entrance to the forecastle, heading down.

later that same day Luffy rolled his eyes, shaking his head as he looked at his navigator. "Why the heck would we bother with that Nami? We just got three bounties of more than 20,000,000 beli combined! No way this treasure of Woonan's worth more than that."

"Come on Luuuuffy," Nami wheedled, leaning against his side and running one finger up his stomach and chest, shuddering a little at how hard his muscles were. _Damn he really is like stone and steel under his skin!_

Once more in his male form Luffy blushed, looking away. "Darn it Nami!" he said plaintively, reiterating his position again. "We've already gotten three bounties to add to our collection. That gives us all enough money for anything I can think of we need in the short term. Besides, if this lot had that map for so long, why haven't they found it yet?"

The would-be pirate crew of four was sitting at an oden stall at present. It was not just any oden stall however it was a stall of the sea. The stall was a small ship around half again the length of the _Bastard_ 's lifeboat, with an awning over the center which was set up as a long kitchen. On either side of that was a row of benches.

A single old man seemed to run it with the 'help' of the young boy, whose name was Tobio, who the crew had rescued. Tobio was still somewhat shaken and very bruised around the edges but considering he had been aboard a ship under cannon fire he was remarkably hale. Ironically his being in the brig for apparently arguing with the captain had saved Tobio, placing him at the aft of the ship among the bilges, where he was at the far end of the ship from the Bastard's assault.

Both Nami and Makino had been almost beside themselves with shock and horror at the fact a young boy had almost died from their assault. Makino in particular had refused to let Tobio out of her sight until the old man had called him by name. The boy, shaken by his brush with death had actually welcomed the old man's smothering.

Their three prisoners were trussed up all around the _Inglorious Bastard_ , scattered so that they couldn't see one another. Their injuries had also been seen to somewhat. Luffy had also taken the time to stuff El Drago's mouth enough so that he couldn't even move his jaws just in case.

"If you're going to look for Woonan's treasure, you won't find anything," the old man said, pushing the young boy who was working the stall with him towards the grill as he served up more food for Luffy and Zoro. The two girls had already finished eating. "You wouldn't be the first pirates to come here to try and find Woonan's treasure, but if there's any kind of treasure here, I would've known about it, and there isn't."

"See, word from a local," Luffy said pointing dramatically at the man.

Nami scowled. "That doesn't mean anything!" she retorted. "It just means that he doesn't know where it is. As for the pirates, I wouldn't trust that group to read a newspaper, let alone a map like this one."

"Nami-chan," Makino said gently. "Luffy's right. We have the three bounties to turn in, we have the gold from that Jango character, and Buggy as well as the valuables from that crab hand person…" She stumbled at the end there, frowning. "What was his name again?"

"I don't think I ever heard it," Luffy said with a shrug. "Wasn't like he was good enough for me to care about anyway."

"Harsh but so very true," Zoro chuckled. "Anyways I agree, we've done enough bounty hunting for a while. Let's take our bounty heads to the nearest Marine base, and then start sailing over to the Grand Line."

"I don't know if we're ready to enter the Grand Line just yet," Luffy cautioned. "I'd like to find a cook at the very least. Even if Makino's able to do the cooking now, we could use the help beyond that to man the _Inglorious Bastard_."

Luffy smiled over at the old man pointing at Tobio. "I don't suppose he can cook? He could be cook and cabin boy in one."

Zoro chuckled, while Nami giggled and Makino shook her head smiling faintly. "I don't think so," she said before the old man could speak. "A pirate ship is no place for a young boy, or else you would have been taken away with Shanks all those years ago. What nearly happened to Tobio today is proof of that."

"Tobio can't cook anyway." The old man broke in. "Though for getting rid of El Drago and his bunch I'll happily load you up with supplies for free."

"You don't need to do that," Luffy said, shaking his head. "We have more than enough cash to pay for it." Nami made to protest, but he held up a hand quickly. "Yes we do. You're navigator not purser Nami, I won't tell you what to do with your share of the beli, but you can't control all the money we have, sorry."

He looked at the girl silently, one eyebrow raised and she sighed before cocking her head towards the distant mountainous island. "Fine, but can we at least look around here for a bit, I think I've figured out where the treasure could be."

"While we were sitting here?" Luffy asked, smiling but incredulous. He glanced down at the map which was part map and part story, several notes written along the edge of it.

"Yep." Nami said proudly, basking in the looks from her friends. And that was what these three had become over the past week, friends. They had found fun and excitement in equal measure and for the first time in a while Nami had no thought of her village, only the adventure she was currently on.

"Well what are we waiting for then?" Luffy jumped to his feet, pulling Nami up and into his arms cradling her against his chest as easily as if she was a child, before leaping into the air and hopping over the air towards the nearby island. "We'll be back in a bit!"

Tobio and his grandfather stared at the now flying man, shock at what they were seeing stilling Tobio' tongue at how easily these two were talking about finding his dream, the Gold Pirate Woonan's treasure. Before he could get his wits about him, Luffy and Nami were nearly out of sight, and he scowled, turning away. No way would the two of them find the treasure so easily. Not even the way they had dispatched El Drago and his crew with so little effort would make Tobio believe that.

For his part Zoro ignored Luffy's feat with the ease of long practice, not even looking up as the two disappeared. Instead he cocked an eyebrow at the old man. "You got any booze?"

Makino sighed, turning to climb up the rope onto the _Bastard_ , checking on the three prisoners before coming back plopping herself down as the old man began to ply Zoro with sake. She looked at the boy, cocking her head thoughtfully. "So, why were you on that pirate ship anyway?"

 **OOOOOOO**

"I don't think I'm ever going to get used to how easily you do this kind of thing," Nami muttered, flushing somewhat. Normally she would have been able to ignore how close Luffy was to her like this. After all, Nami had used her feminine wiles rather often to get men to underestimate her or do what she wanted. But being carried like this through the air like in some fairy tale, in an actual princess carry? That slipped past all her defenses and smashed that tiny, almost hidden button marked 'Teenage girl' in her and just made her want to squee.

"I suppose it's part of how I was trained, and I've always loved high places." Luffy said with a shrug. "I doubt you'll ever be able to Geppo as easily as I do, your body type just isn't built for strength like that, sorry. But I'm always here, so if ya ever need a pick-me-up, either physical or emotional, the view from up here is hard to beat."

Nami nodded, looking around at the vista laid out before them for a few moments, simply staring in awe. It really was amazing, the sea laid out below her, the mountain in the distance a slowly growing mass of green and brown. After a moment however she began to direct Luffy towards the top of the massive bluff.

"Is that it?" he said looking down at the small light blue painted house sitting on edge of the bluff.

"Looks like it," she said, and Luffy bounced down to the air, setting her down quickly. The two of them entered the very old, obviously abandoned house. Once inside the two of them exchanged a look, then Luffy sighed and moved over to the one piece of furniture still in the room, a giant fireplace made of stone obviously not connected to the wall behind. He pushed on it, and right there was a hidden passage. "Seriously?"

"Pirates aren't normally very smart Luffy," Nami teased. "Something simple like that might well have hidden this from a lot of pirate crews."

As Luffy maturely stuck out his tongue at her Nami turned, taking two pieces of wood from the ground which had obviously been part of some kind of rotted chair, tying them both with some scraps of moldy fabric from the same pile. Lighting them one after another with a flint lighter, she tossed one to Luffy and then led the way down into the tunnel.

They moved down a series of steps in to a basement which was empty except for a slightly raised dais and a chair holding a skeleton next to the far wall. On the wall was a long message of some kind.

As Luffy began to read what was written on the wall, Nami looked around, examining walls, ceiling and floor minutely. But even so, she finished almost as quickly as Luffy finished reading aloud. "Nothing, no further hidden passages, no nothing." She reported, even as she smiled at the idea that the pirate Woonan had realized at the end friendship was more important than gold. She wasn't certain she agreed with that, but it was a nice sentiment anyway. "The old man was right, I guess it really was wishful thinking."

"Do you think Tobio will believe us?"

"Maybe not us, but I bet Makino can get him to," Nami said with a shrug. "And if push comes to shove you can always bring him up here like you did me."

The two of them rejoined Zoro and Makino back at the oden stall, reporting what they found. Like Nami had thought Makino had already softened Tobio down on the idea of leaving home, but the boy still demanded to see Woonan's corpse. Luffy took him up, and brought a far weepier Tobio back to the old man, who turned out to be the Ganzo mentioned in Woonan's final message. With that done, and Ganzo having resupplied their ship while Luffy and Nami were away, the four of them bade Ganzo and Tobio farewell and sailed away in the _Bastard_.

It took them four days to get back into an area where Nami's maps were more helpful, during which time they had to knock El Drago and the other moron out several times, whenever they tried to escape. Once in a region Nami knew, despite another heavy storm, Nami quickly directed them straight towards a marine base. She was even able to accurately guess when the base's lookouts, having a taller lookout tower than their own crow's nest, would be able to spot them, and sent Luffy below to change into his female form immediately before.

While Luffy was doing that, Makino made certain that they were flying the bounty Hunter flag and the flag of peace from both ends of the ship. While the _Inglorious Bastard_ didn't look much like the _Big Top_ , it was still a large ship, and the marines would be understandably paranoid about it.

A small schooner came out to meet him, it's form swift and quick. It danced around the larger and far more ungainly _Bastard_ , as the commander of the vessel made certain to look at the galleon from every angle with his spyglass.

"Yeah, I want a ship like that," Luffy said, shaking her head. "Big and ponderous was never the way I wanted to go."

"When it comes to ships, big and ponderous will beat small and quick." Nami retorted. "Besides, you think a ship that size would have enough room to let you train with Zoro and the rest of us?"

"Good point," Luffy replied, waving her hand as the marine, a lieutenant third class from the marks on his shoulder, motioned that they should follow his ship in.

This was a slightly larger marine base than the one they had dropped Buggy at, with room for two galleons and three schooners. However it was also noticeably empty, only the one schooner that had escorted them in was here. And even more telling, a single marine second lieutenant came out of the base to meet the bounty hunters at the peer.

He looked askance at the three prisoners, and then gestured to El Drago. "Why is that one's mouth so heavily covered?"

"He has a Devil Fruit of some kind, let's him launch sonic screams, really powerful ones." Luffy replied.

The lieutenant nodded, gesturing a few of his men forward but Luffy held up a hand. "Money first. Come on man, you know the drill!"

"Actually I don't, I've only been a lieutenant second class for a few weeks now, and I've never seen a bounty hunter before this," the man said dryly shaking his head. "But I can guess at least."

Another marine came forward with their own copy of the bounty book, as well as a ledger for the base. After that they got a bit more organized, but unfortunately they weren't able to pay Luffy for all three. Instead, they paid off one the largest alone and wrote out two scrips good at any WG bank for the money, which was fine by Luffy.

"You're a rather small crew," the lieutenant said as the money was being counted under Makino's watchful gaze, the older woman talking to the sergeant standing watch, nearby apparently giving him some tips on how to make their grog last longer. "Especially for a ship that size. I've heard rumors of a 'Red-haired Ranko' but the rumors never mentioned your ship being so large."

"Wait, 'Red-Haired Ranko'? Seriously, is that the best you lot could come up with? Freaking change that right now!" 'Ranko' ordered. "It makes me sound too much like I've got a connection to that Shanks moron."

More than one marine stopped what they were doing to stare at 'Ranko' for that, but then more than one actually nodded, agreeing. Not with the moron part, though there were a lot of rumors about how Shanks sometimes acted which supported that view, but the fact it did make it sound as if Ranko was related to Shanks.

"We'll make sure to change that," the lieutenant replied quickly, shaking his head. "Sorry, sometimes the people making up nicknames for bounty hunters and pirates are… removed from reality to a certain degree."

"It **is** awfully hard to talk bad about someone who pays your checks isn't it?" Makino quipped, giggling, though she was more giggling at the face 'Ranko' was still making at the idea of being related to Shanks. Being related to Garp was more than enough for Luffy.

"Still, there's only four of you for a ship that size? I'd recommend getting a smaller one as soon as possible. We're entering the storm season soon, and that ship doesn't look the most seaworthy in any case." The officer went on.

"We're hopefully going to expand the crew going forward. Right now we're looking for a cook who can also look after himself and maybe a doctor as well." Makino was technically their purser, filling in as cook and doctor at the moment out of necessity.

The man smirked suddenly. "Actually, I might be able to point you in the right direction for that. There is a floating restaurant nearby, about three day's sail from here, called the Fighting Baratie towards Logue town." The man rattled off a series of directions which Makino and Luffy both made mental notes for Nami, finishing with: "You'll know it when you see it, it's stylized as a giant fish apparently."

He shook his head irritably, but didn't remark further. First Lieutenant Fullbody had taken one of the schooners and its crew out on an extended 'patrol' which was actually only cover for a date with the daughter of one of the local merchants who supplied the base. But the man refused to say that aloud. However he could admit to the idea that the bounty hunter possibly running into and somehow ruining Fullbody's date did make him smile. Fullbody was an arrogant ass, and this Ranko girl seemed just the type to get under his skin.

His absence was made worse by the fact the commodore in charge of the base was out as well. There had been rumors of a notorious fishman pirate operating in East Blue and he had taken the two galleons, his second-in-command and one of the other schooners out to see if there was any reality to the rumor.

"Cool thanks for the tip," 'Ranko' grinned, clapping the man on the shoulder so hard he nearly stumbled sideways into the water by the quay. "We'll get out your way then, and remember what I said about that name."

The officer nodded shakily, watching as Luffy scaled the latter up to the _Inglorious Bastard_ as easily as someone could walk along the dock. As the _Inglorious Bastard_ moved out of the bay, he turned to his sergeant. "Make a note in the book would you? Ranko is definitely dangerous, three more bounties in that short a time! She's going to put us out of business in East Blue at this rate," he chuckled, before going on more seriously. "The higher-ups will definitely be interested in trying to recruit her in the future."

 **OOOOOOO**

Later that day the _Inglorious Bastard_ began to near the large rocks jutting out of the see that the marines had told them to look for when sailing to the Baratie. Luffy was up in the crow's nest, the spyglass to one eye as he looked around them, hoping to see the Baratie sometime soon.

While he didn't see the Baratie just yet, Luffy spotted a small boat tied to one of the rocks. There was a man lying in it, as another man stood over him, looking panicky from what Luffy could see from this far away. He sighed faintly then turned to shout down at the others. "Nami, turn the ship slightly to the east, there looks to be two people shipwrecked there."

"Are you sure you want to be a pirate?" Nami shouted back up at him chuckling even as she turned to the tiller.

"Hush you or I'll up your training again!" Luffy yelled back.

Nami quailed. "I'll be good!" She turned, picking up a flagon of ale from beside her set there just for this purpose, hurling it towards where Zoro was asleep leaning against the mainmast.

It smacked into Zoro's forehead and he scowled angrily, shaking himself awake. "What was that for!?"

"Trim the sails slightly, we're apparently going to help some shipwrecked people over there."

A few moments later Zoro's displeasure disappeared as he took in the sight of the two men. "Johnny! Yosaku?"

"You know them Zoro," Luffy said, hopping down from the crow's nest to land lightly on his feet next to his first mate.

"They're bounty hunters. Just not very good ones." Zoro added the second sentence in the undertone, not wanting to hurt his friend's feelings. "I met them a few months back."

With that he turned to shout down at the man in the boat, who brightened up noticeably, his heretofore defensive stance slackening. "Johnny, what're you two doing here, and what's wrong with Yosaku?"

"I don't know aniki!" The man wailed. "He just suddenly collapsed, and I haven't been able to make much headway on my own!"

"Aniki?" Luffy asked, looking at Zoro.

The other man shrugged his shoulders. "I helped them out with a bounty after we met. Anyway, let's get them up here and have Makino take a look at him."

The two men leaped over the side, hauling the two newcomers aboard, during which Johnny somehow nearly capsized their small boat. The resultant splash found Luffy and Johnny gaped in shock, nearly falling back into the ocean as he saw the tallish black-haired boy turn into a short redhead. "Wh, how…"

"Don't ask, and if you try to touch I break your fingers." Luffy growled.

Nami and Makino took one look at the man lying supine on the deck, of the _Inglorious Bastard_ and shook their heads in unison. "It's scurvy."

"honestly…" Makino sighed, moving to the door leading into the kitchen, mess hall, as Nami took Johnny to task sharply.

"If you don't eat fruits and vegetables, you'll lack many of the essential nutrients found in them, particularly oranges and lemons! How can you two morons have put to sea without even that most basic of basic information! **Everyone** knows was scurvy is, even these two morons!" She shouted pointing at Luffy and Zoro.

"Hey, what's with the name-calling?" Luffy asked, shaking his head.

"I'll stop calling you names when you two stop wrecking the ship whenever you spar!" Nami said sharply. Yesterday's spar between the two men had shattered the back of the shower, which had already been badly weakened by the first spar the two had on the ship.

The two men looked somewhat sheepish, looking away from her.

"Thought not. As for you," Nami said, glaring at Johnny. "I'll ask again, how the hell did you get scurvy in this day and age, heck even lemonade or a single orange a day would have been enough."

"The only drinks we had aboard were was ale, and we thought as men we'd only need meat!" Johnny replied, backing away from the scary orange-haired woman. .

Makino came back at that point, with a pitcher of lemonade mostly made out of lemons. "We'll have to stock up again at the Baratie, we're almost out of the supplies we picked up from Ganzo."

Nami nodded, making a mental note of it while she watched Makino poured the lemonade into just Yosaku's throat. A few moments later some color had returned to the man's face.

After a second Yosaku sprang to his feet. "Wow, I'm cured!"

"YES! Ane-sans, you both are awesome!" Johnny yelled in excitement.

Nami's teeth ground together, unhappy at the idiocy before her while Makino merely shook her head, saying nothing for a moment. Pain was after all a good teacher, and these two definitely needed some information hammered into their heads. Winking at Nami and the two boys she held up a hand, counting down on her fingers.

Johnny and Yosaku however didn't notice this, instead dancing around arm in arm until they stopped, posing. "Sorry for the late introduction, the name's Johnny." The one they had been talking to said, his pose almost reminding Luffy of a statue he had seen in art class back in his former life.

"And I'm Yosaku." The second man said, a lit cigarette in his mouth having pulled it out and lit it while they were dancing around. "If Zoro-aniki vouches for you you're all good with us! Nice to meet you all." He grinned, bowing and trying to look suave as he smiled at Makino. "I have no idea how to thank you ane-san. I thought I was going to die for sure!"

Johnny nodded, clapping his friend on the shoulder. "Seriously I can't…

At that point Makino's count had reached zero, and Yosaku keeled over, coughing up blood. Johnny turned around with his mouth gaping, "YOSAKU!"

"Sad." Makino sighed, shaking her head. "You can't recover from scurvy that quickly. Your friend will need to rest for a while."

"Morons," Nami said again, before visibly wiping her hands of the two newcomers' idiocy, turning to address Johnny. "So what we're you two doing out here?"

Johnny shrugged his shoulders. "We were heading to the Baratie. There was talk of a bounty we were after having stopped there a few days ago, and we had hoped to maybe catch them there again or at least figure out where he was going."

"So, do you at least you know the directions to the Baratie from here?"

The man nodded, and actually pulled out a small map, showing the direction from the island they had started at, and also noting the rocky spires had been tied up to. "The Baratie should be sailing around in this area," he said, pointing at a large circled area of the sea to one side of that.

"Good," Nami said after a bare second looking at the extremely limited map. "We'll be there soon then."

"But I have to warn you, there're a lot of dangerous folks around those parts, being so close to Logue Town and the Grand Line. Even the 'Hawk-Eyed' man you've been looking for has been sighted there aniki!" Johnny said.

Luffy's eyes narrowed and he looked at Zoro, who looked caught between trepidation and excitement. "Hawk Eyes, not **the** Hawk Eyes Mihawk? Zoro, you can't believe you're ready to take on the best swordsman in the world can you?"

"I…" Zoro paused, scowling as he looked at Luffy then away. "Maybe not, but I have to at least try. A swordsman must take on any challenge set before him. If I lose, I lose, and that was all my dream was worth."

As Makino and Nami exchanged a glance while Luffy scowled but eventually nodded. He could understand that way of thinking, even if he didn't agree with it in this case. _Can't really say anything though, given how often my own pride got me in trouble in Nerima_. "Alright if Mihawk shows up I won't get in your way. But if he looks to be overwhelming you don't expect me to just sit by and let you throw away your life after I went to the trouble of saving it in the first place."

Zoro scowled as Johnny gaped at the younger looking Luffy. "I told you once Luffy, my dream is more important than my life, don't step in unless I actually fall. A swordsman would rather die than receive help in a one on one match."

Luffy's eyes narrowed. He would only give himself a barely even chance at winning against Mihawk right now, and that was if he used all his tricks, both from this life and as Ranma to outright assassinate Mihawk rather than fight him openly. Zoro was nowhere near close to that level. However, something about Zoro's eyes told Luffy he didn't care about the odds, only the opportunity. "Alright."

"Morons," Nami muttered, as Johnny began to question his aniki about who Luffy was and what Zoro was doing aboard this ship. "Musclebound morons the pair of you."

With Johnny helping Zoro and Luffy with the sails, they were able to get underway again quickly. And true to Nami's prediction within an hour they saw sails over her horizon.

The first set of sails they saw turned out to be out a marine schooner heading in the same direction as they were. But the second belonged to their target. It was a large flat-bottomed vessel, larger in every dimension than the _Bastard_ , with a central built up area about three stories tall, with large sails set front and aft, rearing at least two stories taller. At the back was a large rudder, at the front the fish head they had been told about. The colors looked somewhat jolly, but that was all the detail they could make out from here.

As the _Bastard_ continued on, it slowly caught up with the marine schooner, which wasn't moving anywhere near as fast as it could. The reason for this was not apparent at first, though as they came closer Nami noticed there didn't seem nearly as many marines around on deck as there should have been for a schooner rig, which was the most man-intensive sailing rig she knew of.

A man dressed in a decent looking pinstripe suit with short pink hair moved to the side of the schooner as they came by it. On his hands he wore iron knuckles, which looked as if they had been riveted to his hands. "I don't recognize your ship! Are you bounty hunters?"

"I'm Ranko, and this is my ship." Luffy said, again in his female form, having changed on-the-fly when they noticed the marine schooner.

"I've never heard of you!" Fullbody said disdainfully. "But I recognize two of your crew. So you must be bottom feeders like they are."

"How is it my fault you've not heard of me, moron?" Luffy asked, giving the man the finger. Zoro smirked beside her, holding Yosaku and Johnny back from trying to leap between the ships while Nami and Makino giggled.

Before Fullbody could respond to the redhead's arrogance, a blond haired woman wearing a cocktail dress came out onto the schooner's deck. "Darling, are we there yet? Why are you talking to these little people, I'm getting hungry."

"Oh yuck! That hair with that dress, and this early in the day?" Makino shuddered shaking her head. "Could you look any more desperate?"

"Excuse me!" the blond growled having somehow heard Makino. Turning away from Fullbody she glared across at Makino. "As if you know anything about fashion, standing there in that barmaid attire! What's the matter, your regular dockside whore outfit in the wash?"

"Ohohoh…. What did you just call me?" Makino asked, a veritable storm cloud gathering around her.

"Err she didn't call you anything, she implieeeee…I'm going to shut up now." Nami began before trailing off and moving away from where she had been about to get between the two other women as Makino glared at her as every man there retreated quickly from Makino, the air around her going Kuro and stormy. _Who knew Makino was that fashion conscious. Or did something about the blonde just rub her wrong?_

Fullbody and Luffy exchanged a glance then backed away, quickly trying to draw his date and Makino away respectively. "Come my love, you're right we should hurry on our way or we'll be late for the reservations I made."

"Come on Makino, this is kind of a silly thing to argue about." Luffy began, whispering into the other girl's ear. "I wouldn't mind starting a fight with the marines Makino, but not right now, and not when I'm in this form. If you want we can start something later."

Looking at the younger woman Makino growled, shaking her head from side to side but slowly regaining control from her sudden spurt of anger. One hand rose to touch her cheek, as the green-haired woman shuddered. "I don't know what came over me there Ranko-chan, you're right, it is silly."

Crisis momentarily averted 'Ranko' led Makino away, as Fullbody did the same with his own date. The redhead turned a moment later when there was the sharp retort of a cannon behind her. The schooner had opened fire on them from one of it'sits starboard side pintle mounts.

Luffy launched herself forward, her hand flashing out to catch the cannon ball in a show of strength and speed that astonished everyone who saw it save Makino and Zoro. The momentum of the ball twirled Luffy around in midair, but she landed safely, tossing the ball up and down.

"Ya know, trying to shoot someone just cause your date's a fucking slag is really sad asshole!" Luffy shouted angry but unwilling to fire back in this form. _But oh just let me go get changed, and then we'll see!_

The schooner kept moving towards the Baratie, not turning to face the _Bastard_ even though several of the crew were staring in shock at the redhead. Fullbody wasn't among them despite having heard the redhead's shout, unwilling to lose further face with his date and having just realized he **had** heard the name Ranko before.

"Let us at him!" Yosaku shouted, barging to his feet despite still looking a little green around the edges.

"We know that marine, he's always looking down on us bounty hunters, getting in our way!" Johnny said with a nod.

"Stop it," Nami said wearily. "We're here to find a cook, not start our pirate careers by sinking a poor marine schooner." The fact Nami had said 'our pirate careers' there didn't register at the time in anyone save Makino. The older woman didn't say anything, she simply smiled, turning away so no one could spot it.

"Fine, but if I see that asshole again when I'm a guy…" Luffy growled, her fingers twitching around the cannonball. The iron of the ball cratered around her grip and she dropped it gently to the deck before turning to Nami. "Right, let's get this over with."

A few moments later the _Bastard_ docked on the other side of the Baratie from the schooner. "You two watch the ship," Luffy ordered looking at Johnny and Yosaku. "Your friend shouldn't be moving around much anyway Johnny."

As the two bounty hunters nodded asking for the group to bring back some of the restaurant's famed food, the four crewmates hopped from their own ship down to the Baratie. Moving along the walkway set around the actual restaurant they came to the doorway, entering quickly. Inside they were immediately met by a man who Luffy had to stop himself from staring at, the sight being a sort of horrible reflection of one part of his early childhood as Ranma he could still remember fondly. _Oh my god, it's Popeye's evil twin!_

The… odd individual bowed rather daintily towards him. "Hello obnoxious guests, I presume you have cash, yes?"

"Wow you're upfront, aren't ya? Luffy replied in a deadpan tone.

"When people arrive without reservations it pays to be so." The man replied, making a point of looking over the way they were all dressed as well.

"Bud, if your eyes stray below my neckline again or that of my friends I'm gonna remove them, m'kay?" Luffy said pleasantly, but her eyes were deadly. "Yes we've got money and since there are at least five empty tables I can see from here I doubt you're in any position to argue."

"In that case, right this way please." The Bizarro Popeye led them over to a table at the back of the main dining hall set near a spiral staircase leading upwards to the second floor. It was also near the doors to the kitchen, and gave them all a great view of the rest of the dining room.

Because of this they saw they saw Fullbody and his date sitting at a small table by the windows facing the marine schooner. Luffy growled as did Makino, though in her case it was the sneer the blond woman had just sent her way rather than the sight of the marine.

"Calm down you two," Nami said, taking their hands and forcing them to remain in their seats. "Let's find a cook at least before you start a scene."

"Nami's got a point and Luffy, I'm surprised that you are losing it over such a trivial thing. Self-control is the hallmark of any true martial artist." Zoro replied, taking a calm sip from a mug of sake.

"It wasn't trivial the bastard tried to sink us! And seeing as I'm the one who stopped the cannonball I can be pissed." Luffy replied hotly, shoving the swordsman in the shoulder hard so that the sake from his glass splashed in his face.

Before Zoro could retaliate appropriately a blond haired young man came out of the kitchen. He was dressed in a very good black suit, complete with tie and undershirt, and looked quite spiffy. His hairstyle though nearly made Luffy and Zoro both laugh aloud. It was this mop of blonde hair covering one side of his face and to top it off further…

"Zoro," Luffy murmured, "is it just me, or are his eyebrows really, **really** curly? Like a snail's shell kind of curly?"

"They are indeed," Zoro said with a smirk forgetting his anger at the redhead for now. "Kind of an effeminate looking guy as well."

Just as their table had noticed him, the young man had noticed them. At the sight of the three ladies he suddenly seemed to swoon, holding his chest as hearts appeared his eyes. "Oh my day is blessed, blessed I tell you!" he said, swirling around in a circle as he made his way over towards them before bowing grandly toward the three ladies. "Ladies, your mere presence brightens the room! Pray tell me your names oh beauteous flowers of the sea, and your orders! Name your deepest hungers and I, Sanji, sous chef of this humble restaurant, will see them sated!"

Luffy shivered at the somewhat Kuno-like speech and the ways that last sentence could have been taken before suddenly smirking evilly. "Well," she said, her voice suddenly far daintier and more feminine than normal. "I'm Ranko, this is Nami, and that's Makino. The guy's named Zoro. We, um we, don't actually have that much money…" she said hesitantly.

"Do not worry about money! Your presence pays for your meals, whatever they might be."

"Oh, in that case!" Nami said giggling and getting into the act, leaning over the table to let the blond look down her shirt, while 'Ranko' leaned into her, staring down at the menu in the ginger's hands rather than her own. "We'll have…" the order went on for a few minutes, with even Makino joining in to tease the blonde chef/waiter. Sanji's eyes didn't seem to know where to look, staring at where Ranko's chest was pressing into Nami's side, down Nami's shirt or at Makino's long legs, which stuck out slightly from below her skirt as she stretched in place.

Despite this, he wrote their orders down accurately and stood up resolutely, posing like a knight on a quest. "Wait for me ladies, and I will return with your food." Sanji then stopped and pointed at Zoro. "You though still need to pay."

"Whatever blondie," Zoro scoffed.

With a finale glare at Zoro (or in the cook's mind 'the lucky asshole sitting with such beautiful ladies') Sanji was off. Once the blonde was gone, Zoro turned to gape at Luffy, who was laughing with Nami now as Makino giggled beside them.

"That was great!" Nami said high-fiving the redhead who grinned at her as she spoke. Her voice was low so as to not be overheard as she went on. "Where the heck did you learn to play men like that, I thought you hated it when men looked at you in that form."

"I told you about that scam my brothers and I ran when I was younger right?" Luffy said smiling gently at the memory, looking over at Makino who smiled too, though that particular scam had led the trio of boys into the worst adventure of their young lives. "Makino here helped train me, not only as a high class lady but as a flirt too. I only use it when there's food involved though." This was also a holdover from his previous life Luffy wasn't proud of, but he was unwilling to change it.

Zoro was shaking his head. "You have just lost so many man points it's not even funny."

"It's not like he's going to try anything, and free food is free food," Luffy said with a grin, smacking the green-haired man on the shoulder. "Tell me you wouldn't do the same thing for booze if you could."

At that Zoro paused, then looked away. This was answer enough for the three girls who all laughed.

A few moments later the man come out, serving them a few appetizers completely, naming the dishes as he put them down. It all looked tremendous, and Makino was the first say so. Nami flirted with the man some more for a few moments, but Luffy cut to the chase. "Tell me Sanji, can you tell us who here among your fellows would be interested in signing up with a ship's crew?"

"Pirate, marine, or merchant?" Sanji asked, becoming somewhat more serious as he stood up, reaching into a pocket to pull out a cigarette, lighting it before bringing it to his lips.

"Bounty Hunter at the moment," Luffy said looking towards the marine and his date, who had just made another sneer towards Makino. What was going on between the two women Luffy didn't know, and wasn't about to get involved in. "Pirate eventually." She added in a low voice.

Beside Luffy Nami stiffened at that reminder. That was the first time that Luffy had brought that up for a while, being too busy taking bounties and training the crew. But despite that and her own misgivings about pirates, after seeing Luffy in action several times now she moved past it with remarkable speed.

Luffy was simply something else when it came to pirates, not like the scum of the sea she was used to or that their crew preyed upon. _There needs to be a new word for pirates like him. Corsair maybe? Freebooter? Freebooter sounds better. It's going to be really hard to leave them, but, but I have to, and soon…_

Nami came back to the here and now when Sanji shook his head. "You can ask any of the cooks here to join your crew. Their skills will certainly be good enough for any pirate crew. But I doubt you'll get many takers."

"Not even you, Sanji-kun?" Nami said, reaching out to rub one finger down his jaw, flirting coming as second nature to her both to get her own way and to take her thoughts off her own problems. "Not even if it the crew has us three on it?"

That almost seemed to cause the man to melt into a puddle but a shout from the open door to the kitchen brought him back to reality, aided by the apple core smacking into the side of his head. "Get back to work you little eggplant"

"Shitty geezer," Sanji muttered before making his apologies and moving through the dining room, taking orders from all the tables, including that of Fullbody.

Left alone for now the four turned to their own discussion, though it was centered around Sanji. "What kind of fighter is he?" Zoro asked, frowning thoughtfully. "The way he moves he's obviously had some training, but he's no swordsman, I don't think he's a hand-to-hand fighter either."

"A kickboxer of some kind," Luffy said definitively. "You can tell he's got a lot of strength in those legs of his, heh, I bet he could learn Geppo in a week or less. He also might have some strength in his arms, but I doubt he actually uses any punches in his style. His palm is slightly calloused, but not his knuckles."

"How can you tell?" Nami asked, shaking her head.

"You know navigation and maps, I know fighting. It's a study of a lifetime," Luffy said with a shrug. _Or rather two lifetimes in my case_ Luffy thought sardonically. "And you can never truly reach the end of it."

Zoro nodded at that, and he and Luffy clinked glasses. Zoro had been able to create his first long-range attack yesterday, a wind strike much like his onigiri or Takanami attacks, only with more range. It wasn't a finished product by any means, he didn't even have a name for it, but it was definitely a step in the right direction.

They watched as Sanji served the various tables, then as Fullbody began to get in his face about something in the soup Luffy smirked suddenly. Leaning back and propping her feet up on the table she turned to the others. "I'll bet 50 beli on Sanji kicking him through the wall and clearing the outer deck into the sea."

"I'll take that action," Zoro replied promptly. "I'll put fifty on him just roughing the pink-haired fool up."

"Barbarians," Nami said shaking her head before eagerly slapping her own 50 beli note down on the table. "50 on him roughing Fullbody up, but someone else coming in before Sanji can take it too far."

"I think that's a copout, you have to name whoever is going to interfere at least." Luffy said pouting at Nami shoving her shoulder against the other girl's, who grinned at her and did the same back.

Luffy's curse might be weird as hell at times, but for some reason it actually helped Nami get closer to him/her. In fact Luffy and Makino, and even Zoro to a lesser degree, had wormed their way under Nami's armor, becoming the best friends she had ever had barring her older sister Nojiko. Though Nami had yet to consciously realize this.

"No," Makino said shaking her head and gathering the cash towards her. "As I'm not putting any money down, I rule that she doesn't have to name the individual, though she does have to say **how** they will interfere. Nami-chan?"

Nami thought for a moment then shrugged. "Combat, someone stopping him forcefully. Judging by the apple that nearly brained Sanji earlier it seems violence is common here."

A few moments later she was scowling at the old man with the magnificent handlebar mustaches and a monstrously tall hat. He had come out and interrupted the action before someone else could by shouting at Sanji along with the man who had met them at the door, whose name was Patty apparently.

"A pleasure taking your money," Zoro said, smirking at the two other gamblers.

"Hmm… Sanji's really got a thing about wasting food huh." Luffy mused, shaking her head. "There's got to be some kind of history there I think."

"I would say so," Makino said, nodding.

"More importantly, I think he should be the one to join our crew just for his fighting abilities. I doubt any of the others are that good." Nami said, eager to forget the money she'd just lost to Zoro while also making plans to get him back for this.

The old man was near enough to have heard her, and he cocked his head at the three girls and the man sitting there. He knew the man was dangerous, but it was the redhead with the carefully hidden but very dangerous aura which made him stop. There was something there, more than the look in her eyes… After a second however he shook his head. "If you want to take the little eggplant, go right ahead, he's just a burden here."

"Is that so?" Luffy said, easily seeing the man didn't really mean that. He was just acting sort of like a father trying to smack his son out of the nest. "Then you wouldn't mind me asking him later?"

Just then the second half of the day's floor show arrived. A panicking marine raced in, smacking the door open quickly and going to his knees in front of his lieutenant. "Lieutenant Fullbody! That pirate we caught, the one from Krieg's crew, he escaped!"

"Sh, shat's immossible!" Fullbody lisped, staggering to his feet, his face still bloody from the seventeen kicks Sanji had delivered within a few milliseconds of one another. "'E's not eat'n fer weeksh, howsh 'e got shtrengh ta move?"

Around them all people began to mutter and start to act frightened at the name of Kriefg while Luffy's eyebrows rose and she smiled in delight. "Hey Nami, how much is Krieg worth again, I can't remember."

Despite her sudden worry and her irritation at having lost the bet Nami nodded and reached for her bag where she kept the bounty book. As she flipped it open however she paused, staring at a specific page within, her face hardening.

Makino was the only one who noticed this however. Zoro had continued to watch the action going on, but Luffy had grabbed up a small single penny piece, his eyes narrowing as he looked past the marines to the doorway still swinging behind them. Between one second and the next he hurled it, the penny zooming so fast through the air only Zeff could follow it. He turned so as to look at the redhead thoughtfully out of the corner of his eye, while he also kept an eye on the doorway.

The frightened marine private shook his head, but just as he spoke there was a sharp retort of a pistol and his shoulder suddenly exploded in blood and bone. "Gah!?"

The man on the other side of the door walked forward, his body slumping, his feet dragging. He had grey skin, a scruffy beard, and a green shirt with gray pants and a striped headband, though it was the bags under his eye that most grabbed attention. Despite his obvious exhaustion however he kept hold of the pistol in his hand, having dropped another by the door.

The apparent pirate staggered over to the nearest table, which emptied quickly and he sat down, ignoring the man he had just shot or the fact something had hit his pistol, causing the bullet to go wild. Leaning back in the chair he looked around, his eyes shadowed by his headband. "This place is a restaurant, right? Get me some food!"

The evil Popeye, Patty, walked forward, a rather disturbing smile on his face. "Welcome, shit-stain pirate!"

The pirate scowled angrily. "Do your ears work? I'm a customer, and I just demanded some fucking food! Get it for me, now!"

Leaning down to help his wounded marine to his feet Fullbody mumbled something, retreating quickly, moving towards the doorway now that it was clear.

"Pardon me dumbass, but can you actually pay for your meal?" Patty asked, still smiling that disturbing smile.

Luffy and Zoro burst out laughing and even Makino laughed, shaking her head. Nami, who had been brought out of her fugue by the retort of the pistol, shook her head.

The Krieg Pirate raised his remaining pistol to point at Patty's forehead. "Do ya take lead, ya dumbass cook?"

"So that's a no then?" Patty said. Before the pirate could make another move, Patty's huge Popeye arms smashed him through the table with an overhand blow.

"Damn it Patty. Don't break the damn furniture! You're as bad as the baby eggplant!" Zeff grouched.

"If you can't pay the bill, you don't get fed, simple, ya stupid shit-stain." Patty growled, crossing his powerful and heavily tattooed forearms.

All the cooks in the dining hall cheered. "Nice going Patty! Show that idiot pirate who's boss!"

Luffy's eyes narrowed, noticing that both Zeff and Sanji weren't joining in the cheering. Zoro was watching with a scowl on his face and both Makino and Nami were looking on now as the roar of the pirate's stomach suddenly filled the room.

A sneer on his face Patty leaned down. "Is that your stomach growling?"

"It's, hack!" the pirate coughed, grunting in agony but forcing himself to his knees. "I, it's just gas jackass. Now go get me some food, or, or I'll."

"If you don't have money get the hell out of the restaurant you moocher!" Patty growled, kicking the pirate sending him onto his back. "This isn't a place for broke ass pirates like you! I'm not going to give you even a single bread crumb!" The man coughed up some blood.

Grabbing his man, Fullbody decided to get while the getting was good, followed quickly by his date and a few other restaurant goers. Some of the other diners though joined the cooks in cheering Patty on.

But Luffy noticed that Sanji and Zeff were again not joining in the cheering, and that Sanji had turned, walking back into the kitchen. The redhead exchanged a glance with Makino, who had also noticed and she nodded. Zoro, who had some understanding of what starvation was like, shook his head, looking away as the pirate crawled out of the restaurant.

Shuddering slightly Nami turned away from the sight of Patty curtseying. She was about to say something to Luffy about making certain that wasn't the kind of cook he/she was looking for but Luffy stood up, looking out the window. "Oh thank god! The marines are leaving. I'll be right back, I want to change back to my real body."

Nami smirked, shaking her head at the redhead. "Not as comfortable with Sanji's flirting as you wanted us to think?"

"Not even by half. I can take his over the top words and even his whole swirly eye, but the moment he tried to kiss my hand is when he crossed the line." Luffy replied. Shuddering she walked off while behind her Nami laughed, her good mood restored for the moment.

After changing, both his body and into his normal clothing and grabbing his straw hat, Luffy hopped back onto the Baratie, walking around the walk path at the back for a moment. there he found Sanji talking to the pirate from earlier, having just placed a large plate of fried rice in front of him.

"…Any hungry person is a customer." Sanji was saying as Luffy arrived, blowing smoke from his cigarette. "Being on the open sea without food, it's the worst. The sea can be a cruel, cruel place under such circumstances." He bowed his head and sighed, "I understand it more than most…how bad starving can be on the ocean…"

The pirate with the grey skin gulped once, eyeing Sanji then grabbed the plate like the starving man he was, his earlier hesitance utterly forgotten. "Delicious…this is the most delicious food I've ever had! Thank you so much chef!"

"Heh, it's damn good huh?" Sanji had a happy grin of his own.

Luffy called out below, "Well, looks like you got some food after all, despite your earlier poor manners." He chuckled as both the men started, looking over to where Luffy was now leaning against the wall of the restaurant. "Hey Sanji! You ever wonder what it'd be like to become a pirate?"

"…Eh?" Have we met before?" Sanji asked, bemused the Kuro-haired teen knew his name.

"Ya met my… sister and the rest of my crew inside. She was the redhead, she told ya we were acting as bounty hunters for now, but we're going to turn pirate soon right?" Luffy replied, not wanting to explain his curse again, and thinking it would be hilarious later on to spring it on the flirtatious chef at some point.

"Oh, the redhead huh…I suppose you do look like her, somewhat anyway." Sanji nodded, looking a little leery. He had after all had several run-ins with spouses, boyfriends, and protective father/brothers over the years, and was in no mood to deal with that.

"As to your question, a bit I suppose. All the chefs here are rather hot-blooded, and old man Zeff was a pirate too. But if you're asking if I'm interested in joining your crew like your sister was saying, I'll have to refuse." Sanji looked up at the sky, "I have reasons for wanting to work here."

"Oh, and are those reasons, or dreams?" Luffy asked shrewdly, causing Sanji to twitch visibly.

"I've no reason to tell you that." He replied, turning away to stare out over the sea, blowing out a smoke ring as he flicked his cigarette out into the ocean before taking out a new one. "Ask one of the others, you might find someone to take up your offer."

"What kind of answer is that man? Seriously, you've got the right attitude, and I can tell you're strong. Unless you are saying all the other chefs can both cook as well as you and fight as well as you, you're the only chef here I want on my crew. Hell even if that was the case I'd still want you on my crew because of the way you handled grey-skin here."

"Heh, the other chefs wish they could fight or cook as well as I can!" Sanji said proudly, his new cigarette between his lips as he smiled at Luffy words. "But my answer is still no."

"Sorry to cut in…" The Krieg pirate butted his head into the conversation. "Ano, I haven't introduced myself, I'm Gin, a member of the Krieg Pirates. You say you're a pirate kid? What's your goal?"

"Pirate King." Luffy said, a challenging smirk on his lips as his eyes lit up. "I'm going to go to the Grand Line, find Raftel and One Piece!"

Sanji's eyes widened, but Gin just looked at him uncaring. "If you're still looking for a cook and you said you're acting like bounty hunters for now, that means you're just starting out I suppose?"

"Sanji here'll be the fourth to join my sister and me." Luffy lied glibly, pointing his thumb at Sanji.

"Hey shitty Strawhat! I already said I wouldn't be joining!" Sanji shouted.

Luffy's previously friendly face shut down and he turned to stare at Sanji. "I'm sorry, did you just call my straw hat shit?" While not as dear to Ranma/Luffy as the hat had become to original Luffy, it was still precious to him, a symbol of his promise to become the strongest and the freest man in the world.

Before Sanji could respond Gin spoke up. "You don't seem like a bad guy so let me give you some free advice just give up on going to the Grand Line. It's just one ocean amongst the five. If you want to be a pirate there are plenty of other places for you to explore."

"Heh, the Blues are ponds in comparison to the Grand Line, man." Luffy replied, laughing. "Besides, my dream is to be Pirate King! How can I become the Pirate King if I'm scared of the ocean Gold Roger made his name on?"

Gin's eyes widened, "Don't you get it kid! There's no way your crew will survive on the Grand Line! It's a madhouse, the seas don't act anything like they should, your compass can't help you, and the people there!" He yelled, then paled even further as if struck by some horrible memory.

For a moment Luffy just looked at Gin, then his smile widened. "Sounds like my kind of fun. Besides, how are you supposed to chase your dream if you don't want to put your life on the line?" At those words, Gin's eyes widened as did Sanji's.

"Kid…" Gin said, before shaking himself. "At least I tried, if you get yourself killed trying to grab the impossible, that's no skin off my nose." With Sanji's help, he moved over to a nearby rowboat, left there by either a customer or possibly the marine schooner.

"Thank you so much for the food, Sanji!" Gin said, smiling wanly up at them from the rowboat. "You're my savior! Would it be alright if I came back here to eat again?"

"Sure." Sanji grinned, "Any time, just next time either come to the back of the restaurant, or bring some money along."

"SANJI!" A voice roared from above them.

"Sounds like Zeff's looking for ya. Are you gonna be scolded for giving Gin here food?" Luffy asked. he doubted it, given the look he'd seen on the old mans' face, but best to make sure.

As Gin began to stutter apologies, Sanji shook his head, kicking the plate off the side of the ship. "What are you talking about? How can he yell at me for giving out food for free if there's no proof?"

As the rowboat Gin got on his knees as the boat started sailing away and bowed down, "Thank you Sanji! I'll never forget this!"

"Yeah whatever, just get outta here, Gin!" Sanji waved him away.

"Get back to work shitty eggplant!" Zeff yelled from the doorway where he had been watching everything for a few minutes, unseen by even Luffy.

As Luffy turned to look at the man, he caught Zeff eyeing him up and down, before a smirk appeared under his massive mustaches. "So you want to take the shitty eggplant huh, you must not have high standards then. Why don't you take him, it's not like we need him here anyway."

As Luffy grinned Sanji scowled, striding forward to go nose to nose with Zeff. "You shitty geezer, I've been Sous Chef here for near a decade, served here longer than any of the others, way back when this place was nothing more than a gleam in your inebriated eye! So where exactly do you get off saying I'm not needed?"

Zeff scoffed. "Don't talk so high and mighty you shitty brat! All you ever do these days is pick fights with the guests and sniff around the ladies like some bitch in heat. And you can't cook a decent meal to save your life! So go be a pirate you shitty brat. It's better if you just get the hell off my ship."

Sanji reached forward and snatched Zeff's collar in a tight fist, almost biting through his cigarette as he roared at the older man. "You shitty mustached bastard! Have you been wanting to say that garbage for long? Say anything you want about how I act but don't you dare insult my cooking! I'm staying here no matter what you say! I'll stay here until the day you die! No matter how you try to chase me out, I'll be here to take over!"

"I ain't dying for at least another hundred years, you shitty brat." Zeff scoffed, easily breaking Sanji's grip and turning away.

"Mouthy shit-eating geezer." Sanji muttered as he got to his feet.

"That was fun to watch," Luffy laughed, clapping him on the back. He easily understood what Zeff was trying to do, though looking at these two almost made the Luffy part of him think Genma and he had been well-adjusted when it came to being able to communicate with one another. "Well, since you just got fired, that mean you're free to join my crew."

He dodged sideways as Sanji suddenly flipped onto his hands and kicked backwards with both feet faster than most would have been able to track. "As if you shitty strawhat!?"

"Hey! What did I say about dissing the hat!?" Luffy growled, lashing out with a kick of his own that caught Sanji in the chest before he could dodge it. Sanji grunted finding himself airborne and hurled backwards into the restaurant as Luffy scowled after him before shaking his head. "Meh, better let him cool down a bit."

"So does anyone have any objections to a stay here a few days while I try to convince Sanji to come with us?" Luffy asked that evening, looking around at his crew. Johnny and Yosaku of course didn't really count, but he wanted to make sure that the others were all right with this. "If Krieg shows up that is a large bounty we can add to our war chest, and I think we won't find a better fighting chef than Sanji in East Blue."

Makino shrugged. "I'm all right with it. It gives me time to talk to the chefs and guests about some rumors concerning the Marines in Logue Town. Apparently there is a very strong Marine stationed there, and I'd like to know what we're getting into before we actually arrive there. We certainly have enough money to stay."

"I am all right with it I suppose," Nami said, her voice uncaring, her eyes hooded.

Luffy looked at her from the corner of his eyes, frowning internally. Her attitude had been going up and down all day.

He wasn't the only one who had noticed. Makino caught his eye, and shook her head lightly, indicating that she would speak to Nami about it later with a fingertip pointed to her own face.

"I'd object if we left," Zoro said bluntly, not noticing any of this byplay. "If Johnny was right, Hawk Eyes might be in the area, and I can't pass up that opportunity."

"No, I don't suppose you can," Luffy said with a shrug and a sigh. He knew Zoro was going to lose that fight, and he thought that deep down Zoro did too. But Zoro was a martial artist, or in his parlance a swordsman. The need to challenge the best out there was ingrained into their psyches.

"More importantly," Zoro said, smirking suddenly and leaning forward. "When are you going to tell the Love-sick Cook about your curse?"

"Not until after he agrees to join our crew, until then it's a positive. Although if he tries to kiss my hand or anything else…" Luffy shuddered. "We'll probably have to spend some of that money on repairs to the Baratie after I get through with him."

The others laughed, even Nami coming out of her funk for a moment. "So we're all agreed? Good," Luffy said after the laughter died down. "In that case Zoro, we'll start training in the morning, until right before lunch. After that Nami your training will begin, with Zoro and Makino helping you out as I try to convince Sanji during lunch."

Nami winced but nodded. Her ability to dodge had gone up dramatically because of the training, even if her ability to hit hadn't. Luffy judged she was right on the cusp of really using Kami-E. She had even, to Luffy's astonishment, also shown signs of Observation, not a lot of course, but a little, far more than Luffy had in the first few years of his training in Haki.

Zoro nodded too, eager to get back to it. "Start training me in Tekkai," he said looking at Luffy seriously. "I think I've got a good enough handle on Geppo."

"No you don't you just want a break from falling into the sea every other day," Luffy said with a grin.

The swordsman scoffed but he didn't argue with the statement, looking away slightly. Makino and Nami both giggled: the sight of Zoro continually falling into the ocean while he tried to spar with Luffy was the highlight of their days at sea.

"I think Johnny and Yosaku should be put to work if they're going to stay with us," Makino interjected. "Yosaku should be all right to move around more by the end of tomorrow, and the two of them can start work on some of the repairs to the ship since I bought supplies at that island with the crab pirate. Johnny mentioned that he had had some carpentry background. I know you can do them Luffy, but this way those two will pay for their passage."

"That's an excellent idea. I want that shower wall repaired!" Nami said quickly, glaring at Luffy and Zoro. The two men sheepishly scratched their heads in unison, looking away.

Later that evening however, Nami's attitude took a dip for the worst and she sat in the captain's quarters she had taken over, staring at the bounty book on the captain's desk. It wasn't open. It was simply sitting there looking almost innocent but commanding her attention all the same.

"You want to talk about it Nami-chan?" Makino asked softly from the doorway.

Nami looked up quickly, as if she had been caught doing something she shouldn't, but she subsided at the look of understanding and concern in the woman's eyes. She knew Makino didn't have any idea what she was thinking about, but the other woman had obviously picked up on something. "I-it's nothing. Nothing that you or the others can help me with anyway," Nami said lamely looking away.

 _I don't want to get you all killed. Even as strong as he is, there's no way Luffy is strong enough to take on Arlong… is there?_ The fact that Nami could even think about that was a sign of how far she'd come. But she still couldn't bring herself to believe that Luffy was stronger than Arlong despite all the times he'd proved his strength since they met.

"Nami, remember we're here for you whatever happens," Makino said. "I know you still object to really being part of this crew sometimes, but you are, and even if you weren't or even if you had a legitimate reason not to be, Luffy would still count you among his friends. He, Zoro and I would help you regardless."

Nami didn't say anything to that and Makino sighed, reaching over to ruffle the girl's hair in a way that reminded Nami painfully of Bellemere before turning and leaving. As soon as the girl was gone Nami leaned over, thumping her head onto the desk as she fought back tears. "Bellemere, what should I do?"

Outside Luffy sat on the ship's prow above the small forward facing cannons in a meditation pose. Makino approached him, and he looked up hopefully but Makino shook her head. "She didn't say anything to me. You know you should be the one to ask Luffy-kun."

"No," Luffy said with a shake of his head. "I've already done all I can to get her to trust me, at least I think I have. It's not a matter of trust, it's something else. Some kind of fear is riding Nami, keeping her from really asking for our help and I don't know, but it might not be a fear for herself either. I'd hoped Nami would open up to you being another 'actual' woman, but I guess not. We'll have to wait and see, I suppose. Keep an eye on her okay? Don't be obvious about it, but I want Nami to know that we're here for her."

"Of course," Makino said, smiling down at the young boy she had helped raise into this fine young man, leaning down to gently kiss his forehead before turning to go back inside.

 **OOOOOOO**

Nodding his head politely to the marine ensign who was waiting on the wharf with a clipboard, Kuro held out his hand. "Good afternoon Ensign, I would like to speak to Sergeant Dearborn please and your commanding officer if at all possible."

The name of the marine was one of several dozen Kuro had 'befriended' while under his persona as a butler when they stopped in at the island for supplies. Just in case he ever wanted to invade this base for any reason. This need was greater than he had ever hoped to see, but his planning ahead severed him well here.

The marine looked blank for a moment then nodded. "I believe the sergeant is due back this evening sir, are you here to visit him? And might I have your name and island of origin." The young marine asked, pulling out a pen. The marines of course would have to keep a record of whoever was on the base at any given time.

"I am Kalhadore of Fuchsia, and yes, I'm here to see the sergeant, and to check on the accuracy of some rumors which spoke of a pirate ship seen near Fuchsia. I am afraid that there is only one target for up Pirates in the area, and I wanted to see if I could ask questions."

This was a leading comment. Kuro gave out some information, both false and true, in order to get some in return. It was an old tactic used by spies and infiltrators the world over but it was an old tactic because it worked, and the marine nodded. "I understand your concerns sir, and we have a group of pirates in jail here that were indeed found near that island I think. We would have sent them on to Logue Town for execution, but there's no galleon nearby to take them. If you wish to question the captain about them, we can talk to him first before the Sergeant's ship is due back late this evening."

"Very good ensign, let's get the serious portion of my visit over with first then," Kuro replied.

Usopp frowned, looking at Kalhadore. He was a little out of sorts being surrounded by so many Marines, the quay being a bustling place at the moment as a supply ship was being unloaded on one side, and on the other marines were looking over a large, heavily damaged pirate galley. "What's this about pirates being near Fuchsia?"

"A moment please, ensign," Kuro said, nodding his head politely to the young ensign while pulling up a bag. The marine looked at it curiously, but the fact that this civilian had gotten his rank right completely disarmed him for the moment.

"I told Ojou-sama that I was here to check up on a friend, and I am. But there were also rumors I overheard from some of the fisher-folk that they had spotted a pirate ship in our waters."

"I never heard about that!" said Usopp excitedly. Why didn't anyone mention there were pirates around to the great captain Usopp?! I would have prepared defenses just in case, maybe even gone out to meet them and converted them to my crew!"

"Why do you think they would tell you?" Kuro asked coolly. "The townsfolk know your obsession with pirates. While they are not going to argue with your reasons, they're certainly not going to feed that obsession either, certainly not given your boy-who cried wolf activities."

Usopp pouted, but understood. "And the only real target in the area would be Ojou-sama and her fortune. That's an ugly thought."

"Hence why I'm interested in making certain it was just a rumor," Kuro said, his voice still cooler than even his normal ultra-formal tones.

"Although it appears as if it was not and that the Marines with their typical efficiency have already taken care of the threat," he said in a louder tone, nodding at the Ensign, who puffed himself up a little, though not so much. He knew after all that a group of bounty hunters had captured that group of pirates rather than the marines.

Usopp nodded, though he was still frowning as he looked around, rather nervous. This was after all the first time he had been away from his home island, and the marines were making him even more nervous with their uniforms and their cleanliness and their anti-pirate ways.

Over the four days the two of them had been at sea they had not gotten any closer but his respect for Kuro had grown somewhat. Despite being prissy and officious, the older man was pretty good around the ship. He also had his reasons for disliking Pirates, which made Usopp somewhat more respectful of his opinions. "What am I supposed to be doing while you're hunting down that rumor and talking to your friend?" He asked.

"Talk to the Marines, explore? You want to go out to sea don't you? Ask some questions from people who have. You've certainly plied me with enough of them, and I'm no real sailor." Kuro said dryly pushing up the glasses once more with his palm.

He had been so, **so** tempted to kill the boy several times during the trip. But Kaya had been right, you really needed at least two people to man the Going Merry. _And besides, now that I have him here, he can fulfill his role as scapegoat anyway if all goes according to plan._

"Would that be all right Ensign?" 'Kalhadore asked, turning back to the young officer.

"So long as he stays on the wharf, that will be fine sir," The younger man nodded, looking at the even younger long nosed youth with interest for a moment before turning away. "If you'll follow me? I can't let you go alone, all civilians have to be escorted."

"Of course, it is a military facility after all," Kuro said, making a point to let the Ensign see his warning glance at Usopp, further putting the youthful officer at his ease. With that he walked off, the ensign now not even noticing that Kuro had taken his bag along. Just in case.

As the two walked off, Usopp scoffed irritably. _I'm not a kid who needs to be watched all the time, I can handle myself!_

With that he walked off toward the other side of the port, before disappearing under some over hung gantries and pulley systems. From there he made his way to another entrance into the facility, a smaller supply entrance rather than the main one used by civilians and important visitors. Moments later, he was in the base exploring. Sneaking around like this was fun, and great practice too for when he was a pirate.

He paused thoughtfully at a staircase, wondering if he should go up or down, and decided to go down figuring there would be less people in the basement. He was right, there weren't many Marines here, though the few scattered around were in guard positions set up at intersections of the somewhat large jail area.

Past a large group of them at the bottom of the stairwell he saw several Pirates stuck in jail cells. But the oddest was a single jail cell holding a barrel for some reason, on top of which was stuck a severed head in a goldfish bowl. It had longish blue hair, a vaguely scruffy appearance, and the one eye he could see from here was rolled up in the back of its head, and its nostrils were sticking out of the water at the top of the bowl for some reason. _What the heck is that about! I didn't think Marines were sick enough to take trophies!_

 **OOOOOOO**

Kuro followed the Ensign through the corridors, stopping and nodding politely twice when the Ensign stopped to salute a superior officer. There were two lieutenants apparently on the base, along with a base commander whose rank was commodore despite the fact that there was no galleon stationed here at the moment. This was because this base was an important supply base, and galleys periodically came and went from the larger more frequently used outposts elsewhere in East Blue, stopping here to take on supplies before moving on.

"Can I ask what are you going to do with that pirate ship? Take it apart, sink it? I'm afraid I don't know what Marines do with captured pirate ships." Kalhadore asked.

The ensign looked over his shoulder, shrugging his shoulders. "At the moment there we're repairing and renovating it into a prison galley. The pirate crew from that ship isn't the only one we have here currently, though thankfully we sent off a lot of the last group already."

"I see," Kuro said nodding thoughtfully and filing that information away.

Someone had evidently been very busy, though he hadn't heard any rumors of any big-name Marine being seen in East Blue in the last few years. There'd been a strange rumor a few weeks ago about the Iron Fist Garp being seen, but that was obviously a rumor and nothing more. Still, it didn't matter. As long as the White Hunter didn't come out from Logue Town, there was no marine in this ocean that Kuro feared.

A few minutes later the ensign knocked on a doorway in front of them, and after a sharp brusque 'enter' opened the door saluting quickly. "Sir, the civilian who showed up with the Going Merry from Fuchsia Village, he wants to ask a few questions about the pirates we captured recently.

The commodore, the one eyed older man Luffy and Nami had met, nodding his head politely at the butler. "I recognize you. My men have said you are the butler to Kaya-san, correct?"

"That is correct Sir," Kuro said, performing a somewhat sloppy salute followed by a far more proper bow, not removing his bag from his shoulder. "I am here to look into rumors that there were pirates near Fuchsia. If there were, there was only one real goal for such a group on our island, and I wanted to make certain that they were taken care of, and that there was nothing behind it other than normal pirate greed."

The captain nodded seriously. "A justifiable concern I suppose. We haven't questioned them about their goals in the area yet. It could've just been luck of course, this group lost their original captain years ago, and they haven't been seen often since, and certainly haven't been much of a danger to anyone. But if you want we can question the new captain of the group."

"Would you mind if I sat in on such an interrogation?" 'Kalhadore' asked politely, smiling inwardly, pushing up his glasses once more with the palm of his hand. "If there was anybody behind the pirates being in the area, I might be able to drop a few names which could elicit a response."

"If you have evidence of that…" the captain began.

But Kuro shook his head. "Nothing actionable, just a feeling as it were in many cases. And the fact that a few individuals did not want Ojou-sama to take control of her family's fortune after her parent's passed away."

"Regular rich people politics then," the captain said with a shrug. "You're right, that's nothing we can act upon. But I suppose you can sit in if you think you can say anything to get a response. Ensign, if you would?"

The three men stayed silent as the ensign led the way down to the interrogation room, where they waited silently again for Jango to be brought to them. The hypnotist's clothing had been exchanged for the white and black stripes of a prisoners garb the world over, his beard was somewhat unkempt, and his glasses were missing letting a truly magnificent shiner be seen in all its glory. He was also limping somewhat.

All in all Jango looked as if he had been put through the ringer. But his one open eye lit up when he saw his captain, and he was about to speak but a sharp glare from Kuro silenced him quickly.

The prisoner shuffled into his seat, and the Marines who had escorted him saluting their captain before moving back to stand either side of the doorway they had escorted the prisoner through. "Thank you Ensign," the captain said as an aside, sitting down quickly across from Jango. "You can return to your normal duties now."

"Sir!" the Ensign said sharply, then did an about-face equally sharply.

This however caused the youth to smack right into Kuro's shoulder, the shoulder from which his bag was currently hanging. To Kuro's horror his bag clinked audibly with the sound of metal on metal and the man stopped, staring at the bag as if noticing it for the first time.

The clank had been audible in the small stone room, and all of the Marines turned to look at Kalhadore in surprise, He sighed faintly. Truly, I've had quite a bit of bad luck lately," Kuro said softly, swiftly reaching into the bag and pulling out his sword gloves before any of the marines could move. These were regular gloves, connected to a series of long katana from each finger, made to look like the claws of a cat.

Between one breath and the next the ensign flew back in a spray of blood as Kuro cut him from shoulder to waist, five long gashes opening up the youth and ending his life swiftly. The captain stood, but a slash from Kuro's other hand cut him down before he could pull out his own sword. And then Kuro was across the room, cutting down the two guards, spraying their blood across the walls before they could even blink. Kuro's speed and ruthlessness had always made him dangerous, and his time as a butler had not dulled his skill.

"Or perhaps, it is you who have the bad luck to cross my path." he said softly as the two guards bodies joined their fellows on the ground and Jango looked at him in both respect and fear.

With the four marines in the room silenced, and no alarm being raised Kuro turned to Jango. "What happened?" He growled, his sword 'fingers' encircling Jango's head, Kruo's eyes becoming somewhat wild behind his glasses. "I had everything planned everything, and you somehow ruin it at nearly the last moment? What did you do?!"

"We didn't do anything captain!" Jango said desperately, knowing that even hinting that he had done anything to jeopardize Kuro's plan would get him cut to ribbons just as ruthlessly as the Marines. "We were simply sailing the local ocean like you told us to. But then we saw this ship in the distance, a big galley just like ours, only a little bigger. But there didn't seem to be many people aboard, and the crew was getting bored, so we decided to try and take it."

Jango dared to shake his head very slightly, the side of his head knocking against one of the finger swords being held around his head. "It turned out to be this group of insanely strong bounty hunters. One of them was the Pirate Hunter Zoro! But his captain was even stranger, this short girl with red hair who could walk on air! How are we supposed to know we'd run into someone like that!?"

"So it was mere chance and the crew becoming bored." Kuro said flatly, his eyes no longer wild but deadly.

"Yes!" Jango said, grateful that the man was actually listening.

For a moment Kuro just stood there, breathing deeply, then he pulled his hand away from Jango, pushing his glasses up his nose with the palm of that hand as he thought. "All right, here is what we're going to do. You are going to sneak out of this building right now. Put on one of the guard's clothes, and let's shave off that beard. Hold still a moment."

Jango flinched as Kuro's finger swords began to move across his face, giving him a **very** close shave before pulling back once more. "W-what now?" He said as he began to pull on a marines uniform. He'd chose one of the guards, thinking that covering his hair with a cap would make him that much less recognizable. Plus his was the only uniform in one piece, and miraculously only had a few splotches of blood here and there. "Most of the Marines here will know each other by sight won't they?"

"They'll be far too busy dealing with a breakout. I'll breakout the Nyaban brothers to join you, I assume that they are here?"

Jango flinched, shaking his head. "They're dead," he said bluntly. "The bounty hunters weren't exactly gentle."

"Can nothing go right today!?" Kuro growled. The two brothers were all he would've needed to slaughter Fuchsia village. The two of them and Jango alone could have allowed him to continue with his plan. But with them gone, the entire crew was now disposable.

And Kuro was angry. There was a barely controlled murderous rage just below the surface at all his plans having come to naught because of his old crew. Kuro had been having days upon days to stew about his plans coming to naught, and he needed an outlet. Going by what Jango had said it had been the crew who had pushed them to attack the bounty hunters, and in so doing endangered his plans simply because they were bored! The crew then would need to pay.

"Hide here until you hear screaming," Kuro said coldly making his way towards the door and throwing off his jacket behind them. "And don't let any blood get on that," he said as an aside before opening the door and disappearing down the corridor deeper into the base.

Jango stood there for a moment shuddering as he began to think maybe coming back to follow his former captain's orders wasn't the brightest thing he'd ever done. _Damn it, why'd I ever agree to this plan in the first place!?_

Outside Kuro marched forward, killing several Marines as in the corridors faster than they could scream, until finally someone survived long enough to shout the alarm "We're being invaded! Pirates!"

 _I didn't want to be a pirate anymore!_ Kuro thought to himself as he heard the term. The anger of the past two weeks of his plan, that he'd been working toward for years of humiliation serving a bratty wench and her moronic parents before her, crumbling around his ears was fueled even further. _Damn you all, I wanted to leave behind this life!_

"Shakushi!"Kuro disappeared from normal people's vision. His swords began to slice randomly into the marines who began to rush out in the corridor armed with sabers and muskets, and also the walls, gouging deep furors into the rock of the base, slicing entirely through doorways. The marines fell back, shouting and screaming, generally panicking and almost leaderless now.

 **OOOOOOO**

For a moment Usopp simply stopped and stared around him as the screams and shouts of alarm began to reverberate through the base. Then he began to look around desperately for a hiding place. _What the heck is happening!?_ But there was no hiding place nearby. He was caught between the entrance to the jail and the rest of the base.

A second later and he had to run away from the noise of several marines coming up the staircase for a moment, hiding to one side behind a doorway before sneaking past them as they ran up into the rest of the base. The screams however were getting closer, and Usopp realized in horror that whoever was causing it was coming down towards him.

He raced down into the jail area, looking around him desperately for a place to hide, but all the jail cells were closed, and even as the pirates in them began to stir, he couldn't see anywhere to hide. With nowhere to hide, he turned, pulling out his sling and sling balls, pulling one back in facing the door, his knees knocking together in his fear, his arms shaking.

To his shock and growing horror Kuro appeared there, coming down the stairs calm as you please. He was armed with what looked cat paws with swords instead of claws, a few of the swords were even scraping along the rock of the floor.

The butler paused, one hand coming up to push his glasses up his nose with the palm of his hand, unmindful of the blood seeping down his swords. "Ahh, there you are Usopp," he said blandly.

"What, what's going on Kalhadore!?" Usopp shouted, raising his sling threateningly even as his legs and arms began to shudder so much they took the rest of his body with them. Fear beyond anything he'd ever known, even the fear of losing his mother, was going through him right now. "W, what are you doing?! What are those things and how are you…"

"I would think that was obvious," Kuro cut in smoothly, a small vicious sneer flitting across his face. "You think of being a pirate is mere play, I've told you over the past few days it is anything but. I just lied about how I knew."

Before Usopp could reply to that, a few of the men in the cells behind him started to cheer. "Captain Kuro! Amazing its captain Kuro! He's here to save us!"

"Stop calling me that name!" Kuro shouted and they all silenced immediately.

As Usopp watched the expression on Kuro's face changed from a sneering arrogance to a look of anger and rage coupled with disdain. "What do you think my plans for the last six years were about? To leave that life behind, to live a life of luxury! And what did you fools do? You decided to attack a ship of bounty hunters! All you had to do was follow my instructions, and my easy life would've been assured! Instead here we are, and I'll have to find another group of patsies to do my bidding!"

"Wait!" said one of the pirates, beginning to realize that maybe their captain wasn't here to save them. "We can still go through with the plan, it'll be easy!"

"No," Kuro said coolly. "You all must pay for ruining my plans in the first place. I was planning to dispose of you afterwards anyway, this is just moving up my timetable. The only one of you I have a real use for it is Jango."

Usopp's eyes had widened as he began to figure out what Kuro's plan must have been. "K, Kaya, you, you were planning to kill her weren't you!?"

"Of course! I've had to deal with that simpering little wench and her condescending kindness for years, all so I could kill her as I poisoned her parents and take their wealth for my own with no one coming after me! I wanted to own her fortune legally, and I will still, thanks to you and Jango. You, Usopp, will become the villain in this piece eventually, though it will take some time to put in motio-!"

Kuro cut off as Usopp, his courage actually overcoming his fear for a moment, fired one of his special sling balls at the pirate. "You'll never hurt Kaya as long as I'm alive!"

"That is the idea!" Kuro deflected it, and shot forward, slicing at Usopp, who ducked faster than he ever thought he could move, only to still be caught by the backswing.

The strike cut Usopp from shoulder to side, the force of the attack hurling him back into the cage surrounding the weird head trophy set on the barrel. Usopp shakily raised his sling again, but the next ball, a regular ball, didn't even go an inch before Kuro smacked the ball back over Usopp's head. There was a tinkle of shattered glass, but Kuro had already turned around, leaving Usopp bleeding against the outside of the cage because three squads of marines had shown up behind him on the stairs, firing down at the pirate. "Shakushi!"

Usopp's eyes were wide, and his breath was coming in short gasps, but despite the pain, and the growing horror that he couldn't stop Kuro, he had noticed that odd sound of breaking glass. He turned slightly to watch the action and to look into the cage at the same time.

As he watched, the head's eyes rolled down, and it blinked, looking around it. It caught Usopp's gaze, and seemed to shake itself in place somehow, despite not actually having a neck to shack. Usopp noticed it actually began to hover a little bit off the ground, looking still out of it somewhat because of, and Usopp suddenly realized he must be looking at some kind of Devil Fruit in action.

The head glared at Usopp, then past him, it's eyes widening slightly, before it mouthed the words 'play dead!'

A second latter Usopp screamed as he felt a blade slash across his chest and side, from one hip up to right below his armpit. The pain nearly forced him into unconsciousness, but he slumped forward slumped down, his eyes closing into slits. But Kuro hadn't even been attacking him personally, the technique Kalhadore, or Kuro or whatever his real name was, seemed to be using was some kind of blind attack, Kuro striking at everything around him.

Realizing this Usopp quickly smashed a few hidden bottles he carried all the time on himself of ketchup. They normally served as props in some of his pranks, but the mixture he had created looked like real blood, making his look even worse than it really was. Which was already pretty bad, Usopp thought having lost feeling in one of his legs at the hip, and his other hand was twitching badly.

He heard the screams and shouts continue, but had no mind to hear them as a voice spoke in his ear. "What the fuck is going on, kid?!"

Buggy the Clown actually had a lot of other questions right now, but that was the most prevalent one. The rest of what he wanted to know he could figure out after observing the uniforms of the marines and where he apparently had been kept prior to execution.

Opening one eye Usopp saw the head had made its way over to him, flying low on the ground so as to be out of sight. Deciding not to ask stupid questions about its impossible nature or who it was, Usopp simply answered the question, knowing he needed help to get out of here alive. "I, I don't know! That, he's a butler from my island, he's been there for years, but he's a pirate captain!"

"I get that part. But why's he slaughtering his own crew?" Buggy could still here screams of 'No Captain please!' and other pleas for their lives from the pirates in the other cells. Many of them had already been slaughtered joining the marines whose bodies littered the corridors outside his cell and presumably beyond.

"I, I don't know," he said he, he wanted to, to kill someone and take their money legally, don't know how he would've worked that. But apparently he wanted to leave the pirate life behind, and he, he was going to kill them all anyway," Usopp gasped out, in quite a lot of pain from his wounds, but staying conscious from an effort of will and a bit of horror at what might happen to Kaya if he succumbed to his wounds.

Buggy would be the first to admit that he didn't have the best track record when it came to treating the majority of his own crew. But he sure as hell wouldn't kill them out of hand. And the idea of a pirate trying to escape the life like that, to leave aside his dreams and his flag…. Buggy had a 'cautious' streak, but he was still a pirate! He still craved adventure and the life at sea chasing his dreams, in his case treasure. The idea of any pirate simply hanging up his flag was the worst sort of stupidity to him. "Can you get the keys to my cell?"

With no other plan coming to mind Usopp agreed, knowing that his own ability would not be able to stop Kuro. He slowly dragged his body across the floor, pausing as more Marines appeared from above firing at Kuro from the stairwell once more, using the bodies of their fellows as cover. The black-clad butler again disappeared from his sight, suddenly appearing among them to slaughter them with an ease that utterly terrified Usopp.

He eventually reached the small wooden case that held the keys to all the cells, smashing it open with desperate strength. He grabbed them all, and now raced over, trusting to Kuro being busy to cover his movements. He began to try them one after another until finally one of them clicked, turning in the keyhole.

However, a third attack from Kuro caught Usopp in the back, slicing him open and nearly severing his spine, hurling him away in a splash of blood to land face down on the floor. "GAUAH!" Kuro didn't even notice, though he heard Usopp's scream and smiled even as his attack continued.

 _Damn, but the brat did it, not bad._ Buggy thought as he saw his jail cell swinging open, and he quickly slipped his head out, grabbing up a small hand axe from the floor of the corridor between his teeth. Coming back into his cell he began to hack slowly at the barrel holding his parts, thankful the marines didn't have enough seastone to go around all their bases.

The noise of Kuro's attack covered any noise he was making, and soon he had it open, though his mouth hurt horribly from the exertion. His parts and the water within the barrel spilled out onto the stone of the cell's floor, and slowly the feelings of his parts returned to Buggy.

In the distance a final scream sounded, and moments later Kuro began to make his way back down, eager to wipe out his crew as he had promised to. Said crew had fallen silent after Usopp went down, horrified and trapped in their cells. Only a few of them had noticed Buggy, and those few stared slack-jawed as he moved out into the corridor, picking up a few discarded swords from the scattered bodies. He stopped and stared at Kuro, who stopped his deliberate stalking gate to look at the man in front of him. "And who would you be, some nameless pirate these luckless marines captured?"

"Nameless?!" Buggy spat to one side. "Not nameless at all. What I am is a **real** pirate, not like you. You really want to give up the flag? You're a fucking coward. That boy has more courage than you," he said gesturing over too Usopp, who was slumped across the floor. "Taking on a pirate with the slingshot? That takes some major balls. Whereas you've spent years apparently planning to run away from your own past."

Buggy respected courage and the kid had impressed him being able to move after that first two attacks had hit him. He gestured around. "And that doesn't even consider your plan to slaughter your own crew!"

"Usopp is a fool, always dreaming about the pirate life while never understanding what it is like to always be hunted, to never rest! Yet so apparently are you." Kuro replied, shaking his head. "Still, what is one more corpse among the multitude?"

With that he disappeared again, using Nuke Ashi, or Stealth Foot to dash forward far faster than anyone there could follow. His attacks killed a few more of his crewmen who were right in back of their cell bars, as well as slicing said bars. But his actual target shouted out, "Bara-Bara parts!" And suddenly there were pieces of the man flying in every direction, not cut by Kuro's swords but under their own power.

Kuro stopped as he felt something slice along one cheek. Pausing his attack he raised one palm to wipe it his cheek and stare at the blood there.

"I prefer knives, but swords are good too." Buggy said conversationally as his body came back together facing the other pirate captain.

"What are you?" Kuro said coolly, his eyes narrowed behind his glasses.

"A part-part man," Buggy said smirking evilly, then he attacked and Kuro replied, no longer relying on Shakushi as he realized it's uncoordinated nature was working against him with this opponent. Yet every time Kuro tried to attack, Buggy simply separated.

Kuro just **couldn't** hit him! He even tried to attack Buggy's feet having noticed they never left the ground, but they too parted before his attack could hit. And he couldn't remove even one of his gloves to try and use a gun, Buggy pressed him too hard.

Whereas while Buggy couldn't quite keep up with Kuro's speed even out of Shakushi, he was able to slice Kuro several times in various ways. The cuts began to pile up, and Kuro retreated, scowling angrily. "Dammit! All of this, all this because my crew was stupid!"

Buggy laughed shaking his head. "You're the one that left your crew. And now you try to kill them off because of a mistake that started with you. What kind of pirate are you, you cat-scratching fucker?"

"The kind who's smart enough to know a pirate's life never amounts to anything! I wanted to leave that past behind and I will!"

"No you didn't," Buggy shot back coolly still just twirling his knives. "You wanted to set yourself up in the lap of luxury, not walk away from the life entirely until you could do it perfectly!" Buggy sneered, making the last word a whine almost. "But bad luck effects black cats too, and it's about time this cat got skinned!"

With that he charged forward, already coming apart as Kuro charged forward at the same time, now filled with despair and only hopping to get past Buggy and up the corridor before Buggy could come after him. It didn't happen.

A moment later, Buggy pulled himself back together, staring over his shoulder at the corpse of Kuro of the thousand plans before looking into the various jail cells. "An entire Marine base wiped out by that bastard, and I'm going to be the one to take the blame, I just know it! But at least I got a new crew out of it, right boys?"

The brightest of them cheered, shaking their hands in the air. "That's right Captain Buggy!"

"Very good!" he said, tossing one of them the keys Usopp had been using before moving back over to squat down next to the kid. "Hey long nose, you still alive?"

Usopp blearily opened his eyes, looking at the pirate standing over him then past him to where Kuro's body lay. "You, you, th, thank you…."

"Yeah he's dead." Buggy said with a nod. "Thanks for your help. Was he right, have you always wanted to be a pirate?"

Usopp nodded weakly. "My, my father's a pirate, sailing with some, some bigwig in the New World. His stories, they always drew me in you know, I wanted to prove I could be a brave warrior of the sea just like him!"

"Did you now," Buggy said, smirking at the intensity in Usopp's eyes. _Pretty damn strong eyes for a boy on death's door._ Here was a dreamer who could possibly amount to something if he lived. "Your father got a name kid?"

"Y, Yasopp," Usopp replied.

Buggy's smirk widened as he recognized that name. "All right kiddo. I know your old man, and if you've got half the talent he does, maybe there's a place for you among my crew. First thing though, is you're going to get rid of that fucking stupid slingshot and we're going to get you a real rifle here among the wreckage. The sea is no place for a toy like that."

 **OOOOOOO**

The next four days passed quickly. Every morning Zoro and Luffy would train together with Luffy forcing Zoro out onto the air via Geppo where Zoro would continually fall into the ocean for a time, although he was getting better. And as Zoro had asked, Luffy also began Zoro's training in Tekkai, with predictable and very black and blue results.

In the afternoon, Nami trained with Luffy in the _Bastard_ 's training room. Nami's speed and dexterity continued to grow, as did her ability to actually predict attacks, above and beyond her Kami-E skills. She still refused to do any strength training however.

Luffy continued to try and get Sanji to agree to come with them, or with the aid of Owner Zeff though his 'help' didn't really help at all frankly. However, Luffy felt that he was slowly wearing Sanji down if only because Nami and Makino occasionally joined in. The triple threat attack from three good-looking ladies seemed to erode Sanji's resolve at times. But the moment they stopped the flirt attack Sanji's resolve to stay at the Baratie would grow again and they were back to square one.

The fifth afternoon there, Luffy was beginning to think maybe they should move on. Yes he liked Sanji, there was something about the guy which screamed there was more to him then he let on, and he knew anyone trained by the old man would be tough. But even so, Krieg had yet to show up, and for all his desire to have a dedicated cook, Makino could do the work just as well for a while longer.

Luffy was about to voice these thoughts to the others around the table when a scream from outside the restaurant shattered the peaceful atmosphere from a chef posted up in the Baratie's crow's nest. "It's Don Krieg!

Soon everyone was looking out the nearest window. Makino found herself the nearest of the crew and she calmly joined the terrified customers, even pulling out a spyglass. "The flag has a skull with overlarge teeth, sideburns and an hourglass to either side… yes, that is indeed Don Krieg's flag, and I think that's his flagship too, though I've never seen pictures of it."

While the customers started to panic and even the cooks started to tremble Luffy and the others joined Makino at the windows. Luffy, looking through the spyglass, frowned. "Huh… you know Zoro, you might get your wish…"

"What?" Zoro asked quizzically.

"Just wait for it." Luffy said, smirking as he shook his head. "Something tells me this fight with Krieg isn't going to be anywhere near as hard as you feared though Nami."

Looking through the spyglass after he handed it to her, Nami could only agree. A few moments later the ship sailed close enough for Zoro to make out the details of it without the spyglass and he too understood.

The giant galleon, larger by at least half again than the _Bastard_ , was a mess. The sails were ripped through in places. The figurehead of a furry demon from hell with larger than average teeth had a huge chunk of it sheared off. The main mast looked as if it had been sliced through at one point and hastily repaired right below the lower mast.

The regular civilians however hadn't waited around to see the state of the ship. They had all raced off to their various ships and scarpered within a mere few minutes of the pirate vessel being seen. This left the chefs and Luffy's crew as the only people aboard the Baratie, and the Bastard the only ship tied to the floating restaurant.

While the chefs began to gear up for a fight, Luffy and his crew took a moment to finish their meal. While they were eating the restaurant's main door slammed open. In walked Gin though he wasn't alone, he was actually leading a far larger man both in height and width, one arm under the newcomer's shoulders.

The second man was decently muscular, Luffy thought, but nothing to Garp. His hair was going grey like Garp's, and he had huge sideburns like his pirate flag. Around his head he was also wearing a wrapping as if he had taken a wound, but there was no blood on it.

"That is so tacky," Makino murmured to Nami, gesturing to what the man was wearing, a large fur-lined cape over cheetah-print shirt, the cape secured around his throat by a large golden chain.

"Ugh," Nami agreed, while Zoro and Luffy looked at one another shrugging their shoulders. "Almost as bad as Zoro's off-white shirt and wide hakama ensemble."

"Oy!" Zoro growled while Luffy laughed until Makino joined in while nearby a few of the chefs were looking at the small crew of bounty hunters as if they were crazy. The group had come to the realization that a fight wasn't going to break out soon, so had decided to just ignore the ongoing tension.

"Excuse me …" the large man began, his voice sounding weak too, though Luffy had to wonder how much of that was fake. "C, could I have some food? If it, if it's money you want, I got plenty."

"…The hell?" Patty asked, looking over at another cook whose name was Carne. "This weak old guy is the fearsome Don Krieg?"

As Luffy and the others watched Krieg keeled over, unable to stand any longer, nearly taking Gin with him. "Don!" Gin yelled in shock, "Please, someone some food and water! He'll die at this rate!"

If he was looking for sympathy from the majority of the watchers, he was sorely disappointed. Patty, who was the closest cook, simply burst out laughing, "Aha, this, this really is Don Krieg!? How the mighty have fallen. Hey, someone call the Marines! They won't get another chance like this!"

Carne nodded, looking at the other cooks seriously while Gin shouted out about they had money this time. The Cooks however ignored that. "Don't anyone give him anything, letting Krieg get captured like this is the best thing that could happen. If we feed him, Kireg'll just attack the ship, he's known for his dirty dealing and treachery!"

"I, I won't do anything!" Krieg croaked, "If you give me food, I promise I'll sail away and leave you alone….Please…help me! I'll eat anything!"

He actually bowed from his knees, though Luffy noticed his jaw clenching a few times. Evidently the man wasn't used to begging. But either the act was working on Gin, or he was in on the scam, as Luffy noticed there were actual tears leaking from the grey-skinned man's eyes.

Patty however was unmoved as he had been by Gin's straits days ago. "Trying to earn some sympathy after the life you've led Kireg, that's low!"

"Move it Patty." Sanji said from behind the other cook, a plate and a bottle of wine balanced in one hand. Patty had but a moment to turn before Sanji's boot caught Patty square on the cheek, sending him flying to the side. "Here Gin, even if I'm willing to give him food, I don't want to get close to him."

"Th, thank you Sanji! Again you're our savior!" Gin said, grabbing the plate and plating it in front of his boss, who without further ado began to shovel the food into his mouth, ignoring the knife and forks in favor of using his hands.

"Sanji you damn fool, that's Don Krieg, the master of underhanded tactics, He's attacked peaceful ports and towns, while waving a Marine Flag, waved white flags at his enemies and attacked them when their guards were down! You really think he'll stay true to his word?!"

If Sanji had thought such a thing, he was soon proven to be wrong. Krieg gulped down the last of his food and swiftly reared up, crossing the distance between himself and Sanji in a single breath. Before Sanji could move back or defend himself a fist caught him in the chest sending him flying.

The Chef's cried out in horror as did Gin, proving the man hadn't been in on the plan Luffy thought, even as he absentmindedly reached out to catch Sanji "Don Krieg, I guided you here because you swore you wouldn't harm them and to hit the man who actually gave both of us food! That's beyOAAGH!"

Gin's words ended in a grunt of pain as Don Krieg's grabbed his shoulder grinding his bones together in his powerful grip. "Ah, I feel like I'm almost back to my normal self. This is a nice ship, I think I'll take it."

"Thanks for the catch, but why couldn't your sister be here right now?" Sanji muttered as Luffy sat him down. Luffy rolled his eyes at the man, not answering and Sanji turned away to glare at the two pirates.

Krieg didn't even spare Sanji a single glance, simply looking around at the cooks speaking as if his words were statements of what was going to happen. "I'll be needing a new one after all since my old one's so cut up. Yet I am prepared to be magnanimous. After you prepare food for a hundred men, I will let you all leave."

Carne growled angrily, muttering about making Sanji pay for this later before addressing Krieg. "You must be out of your traitorous mind! Feed a hundred pirates on your word after you just attacked Sanji, the one who fed you, screw that! Unlike the true blonde over there we actually have brains!"

As Sanji scoffed and Luffy and his crew chuckled, Krieg simply looked at the man blankly, like he simply could not believe the man had spoken such words. "That was not a request it was an order, and no one disobeys my orders!"

From where he had picked himself off the floor from Sanji's kick earlier Patty growled, shaking his head and getting to his feet. But then he stopped and stared at Sanji who was moving towards the kitchen. "Sanji what are you doing!? Can't you freaking learn from your mistake!?"

Sanji paused, taking his cigarette out of his mouth and blowing a smoke ring as he turned, his one eye locking onto Patty, his face a mix of laid back and serious. "What do you think I'm doing? I'm a cook, it's my duty as a cook to feed the hungry, and the starving, no matter what kind of scum they may be."

Luffy looked at his crew, who all, even Zoro who didn't like the cook for some reason, nodded. They liked Sanji's attitude, it made him a much more likeable character to realize he took his skills as a cook that seriously.

The cooks however didn't agree, moving to surround Sanji and block his path. Patty took it a step further with a blow to the back of Sanji's head which laid him out on the floor. "Hold this fool down!"

As the other chefs obey, he moved to a corner where a large rectangular object was laid against the wall, still shouting over his shoulder at Sanji. "I know full well that you've fed the people I've turned away for not having money, and I've ignored it because Owner Zeff did, and I can't say you were wrong to do it! But this time you're definitely wrong!"

He lifted his package and tore away the wrapping, revealing a huge rifle with a blunderbuss-like mouth. "Luckily we only have Krieg himself to deal with, if you think you alone are a match for the Baratie think again! We have pirates coming here looking to mess with us practically every week! We're more than prepared to deal with you!"

Patty raised the gun towards his target, who didn't even bother moving, simply staring back with dull, unimpressed eyes. "Since you finished your meal, how about some dessert, King of Deception Krieg! Eat this, a Indigestion Meatball Special!" Patty roared and fired the cannon at Krieg.

The cannonball hit Krieg square on and exploded, causing a massive wall of smoke which obscured the scene for a few moments. But after a few seconds it cleared, showing Don Krieg completely uninjured. "That meatball tasted like crap."

The shirt he had been wearing was gone now, revealing gold-colored armor which covered his entire upper body. "If you think you can give deserts like that to your customers, think again!"

Luffy smirked. "Hey Zoro here comes some practice for you. Watch the musketballs."

Zoro had a brief second to wonder what his captain was talking about when suddenly Krieg pulled out two pistols, while others appeared in small ports on his shoulder and forearms. Krieg fired, and Zoro flashed into action as Luffy seemed to disappear for a second. Zoro's white-hilted blade came out, sending a few tiny slivers of sharp air pressure forward, cutting into a few bullets to one side of the restaurant, and the walls behind them, cutting tiny swathes out of the walls.

On the other side of the restaurant Luffy did better. In his case he deflected the bullets with his fingers or tiny pennies in a show of strength and coordination that was astonishing. In all, only three bullets got through to impact among the chefs, and even as their victims fell screaming, Luffy stopped moving, smirking at Krieg. "Oops, look like your fancy toys aren't all they're cracked up to be, huh old guy?"

"Old, you damn brat, I…!" Krieg stopped as a giant sack landed in front of him, "What's this?"

"Owner Zeff!" The cooks shouted in shock, seeing their boss standing there, having disappeared into the kitchen while everyone had concentrated on Krieg and Patty's little drama.

"Food for a hundred men." Zeff said simply. He then turned to glare at Zoro. "And you, shit swordsman, are going to pay for the damages you caused."

While Zoro scoffed, looking away Krieg's eyes widened in shock, and he stumbled backwards slightly. "Did…did they say your name was 'Zeff?'"

"Sir! How could you give them that food! Krieg will never keep his word, he and his men will just attack the restaurant!" shouted a nameless cook, helping one of the injured chefs to his feet.

Zeff had a smirk on his face, "Hah, that's only if they have any fighting spirit left in them…isn't that right, you Grand Line dropout?"

Having not heard Gin's tale all the cooks recoiled, while Luffy and his crew simply watched the unfolding drama with amused or bored stares. "Yeah, that's nice, can we get to fighting already," Luffy muttered to Zoro who nodded his head. Makino and Nami rolled their eyes, but even they found Krieg to be less than terrifying after the captain and first mate's little exhibition. Makino also knew he was quite small potatoes in reality, while Nami had met far scarier people in her life.

Krieg was still looking like he'd seen a ghost, "Y…you're 'Red Leg' Zeff!" Recovering somewhat, Krieg smiled greedily staring at Zeff. "The peerless pirate captain and cook…so you're alive."

"So what? My being alive has nothing to do with you. As you can see, I'm a cook full time now," Zeff replied.

Krieg chuckled, manically. "To hear of Red Leg Zeff is to hear of the man who could kick so hard his shoes would be dyed red with the blood of his victims, who could break cliffs with only his legs and leave imprints on steel! The man who would never use his hands in a fight! HA, but look at you now, a full time cook you say, more like you can never put your red shoes on with only one leg!"

Out of the corner of his eye Luffy noticed that Sanji looked like he wanted to go tear Krieg apart, but he was still being held down by the other chefs. In contrast Zeff simply held up his hands. "As long as I have these hands, it doesn't matter if I can fight because I can still cook." He dropped them back to his side. "So are you going to get to the point, or are you going to continue flapping your shitty gums?"

"Red Leg Zeff! The man who once braved the waters of the Grand Line and returned uninjured! You must have kept a log of your voyage! I want it, hand it over now!" Kireg shouted.

"You've been to the Grand Line old man?" Luffy asked cocking his head thoughtfully. "I thought you were strong." _And Sanji's his student, makes Sanji an even better fit for my crew._

"I did sail the Grand Line, and I did keep a log. But I won't be giving it to the likes of you. That logbook is the pride, the real treasure of me and my dead crew. It's much too valuable to give to a weakling."

"WEAKLING?!" Krieg roared, "I can throw an entire ship with my bare hands! How dare you call me weak?!"

"Ooh, a whole ship, big whoop," Luffy muttered. "Do it with one hand while running around as tigers chase you, then we'll talk."

"Garp's training again?" Zoro asked, while Nami blanched.

"Yep," Luffy said dolefully. "Grandpa Crazy really liked living up to my nickname for him y'know."

"Heh, There's no sense explaining it to an idiot." Zeff smirked at Krieg, not having heard this byplay.

"Then I'll take it from your corpse, you retarded cripple!" Krieg growled, clenching his diamond studded fist in front of him. "It's true that I came back defeated from the Grand Line, but even so, I'm the mighty Don Krieg! That dark sea which defies all rationality will not beat me! I had the strength, the ambition, the manpower! But I lacked information, that was my sole flaw! That is why I'll take that logbook from you! Once I have it, I'll reassemble my fleet and conquer the Grand Line! I'll find One Piece and become the Pirate King!"

Luffy just could not let that stand. "You want to be Pirate King! You?!" He scoffed, striding forward to glare up at the taller man. "Real strength doesn't come from toys like that, and it doesn't come from numbers. It comes from will. And if you retreated or let your troops take the fall for you, then you don't have any!"

Behind him Zeff smirked, while Sanji, now freed from the chefs who had been sitting on him, smiled lighting up a cigarette and blowing out a smoke ring. Luffy's crew also smiled, even Nami while Zoro grinned like a shark.

Krieg glared down at boy in front of him, fearlessly standing there and staring Krieg down. Everything in Krieg urged him to crush this gnat but he couldn't, not right now. The brat seemed to have some skill and it would take too long to deal with him, Krieg had to get his crew fed. "Because of your age I'll let that one go brat."

"Of course you will since your guns are empty and it doesn't look like you're man enough to fight without your little toys." Luffy scoffed, causing Krieg to stiffen.

"Oh god, yes please! Enough of the fucking posturing!" Zoro grumbled, his hand caressing the hilt of his sword.

Krieg stared at the small group of people at the table behind Luffy and started to laugh, "That's your crew? A woman, a brat with a sword and a little girl?"

"Him as well." Luffy said with a smirk and a thumb sent towards Sanji "So that's five. But we'll be enough to face the Grand Line together, unlike you and your shit crew."

"Don't fucking joke brat! My entire crew of five thousand men were wiped out on that hellish sea! all because we lacked knowledge!" Krieg bellowed.

"Which you could have gathered by asking people who had been there, or actually reading books." Makino said, shaking her head sadly. "Honestly, not knowing about Loge Poses? Assuming the weather will be even remotely normal? Are you that stupid, or just arrogant?"

"Shut your mouth you green haired whore! You don't know anythinNNG!" Krieg gasped, as Luffy's hand appeared from nowhere grabbing his jugular in fingers of steel.

"Fast." Zeff said with a nod, though he wasn't as impressed as he had been by Luffy' earlier exhibition of speed.

"Keep a civil tongue in your head when talking to my friends, or lose your ability to speak at all." Luffy said, his fingers lightly flexing, easily showing he could tear the older man's jugular out with just a twitch of his wrist.

He let go and stood back, smirking evilly now. "Take the food and go feed your fucking crew asshole, I'll give you a fighting chance at least, mostly so you can't whine about it afterward! We'll see who's the strongest here, you and your numbers, or me and my friends with our dreams and willpower!"

Krieg growled, but backed away, grabbing the food and leaving quickly.

Behind him Nami shook her head. "And that's supposed to be one of the strongest in East Blue? Sad." _And Luffy made him look weak so easily…_ Again Nami's mind shut that thought down, the shadow of Arlong in her mind still there, immovable. But it was cracking, and those cracks were spreading fast.

"I just want to be clear on this. You're letting him go feed his crew and prepare for a fight because you think it'll be more fun to fight him at full strength?" Sanji asked, sucking in a lungful of glorious nicotine.

"Yep. Got a problem with that?" Luffy asked, smirking at the blond cook.

"Nope," Sanji said smirking back, even sparing a moment to nod at Zoro. "That's just fine by me."

Gin, who Krieg had left behind glared at Luffy and Zoro for a moment before bowing his head to Sanji and Zeff sorrowfully. "I'm so sorry Sanji! I never intended this! I had no idea this would happen!"

"There's no need to apologize, punk, you didn't do anything wrong, nor did any of the cooks here." Zeff replied. "We each did what we thought was the right thing to do."

"OWNER ZEFF! How could you side with Sanji! It's his fault we're going to be attacked, and you just go and make the enemy even stronger!" shouted more than one chef, their words a cacophony of betrayed accusation sent toward Zeff and Sanji both.

"SHUT UP YOU STUPID EGGPLANTS!" Zeff shouted, rounding on them angrily. "Do any of you know what it feels like to starve?! Do any of you know what it feels like to be so hungry you want to die just to end it?!" He went on, and Luffy and his crew watched Sanji's head dip down, his hair shadowing his face.

 _Ah, that was it,_ Luffy thought with a nod. It made sense and frankly again, just like his feeding the pirates in the first place, made Sanji more interesting above his obvious skills. A man who nearly starved on the sea but refused to leave it, that said something to Luffy.

The chefs all looked at their boss in shock. "Not one of you numbskulls know how terrifying and painful it is to be lost at sea with no food or drinkable water! The difference between you and Sanji is that he **does**!" The cooks made to turn to look at Sanji who simply glared at them, unwilling to take their pity and Zeff went on. "For now, there's no use crying over what's happened. If you want to leave, there's the door."

The cooks all hardened their gazes and gripped tightly onto their weapons, all of whom made Luffy remember Ukyo and her spatula since they were cooking implements done ridiculously large. "I'm staying right here. I couldn't live with myself if I left without a fight." Patty said, evidently a kind of spokesman for the rest of the riffraff.

"Same here. There ain't anywhere else for me to go." Carne muttered. "Ain't no place for most of us really."

"Wh-what?!" Gin yelled hysterically, "Haven't you all realized how strong Don Krieg is already? You're all going to die!"

"What are we, chopped liver?" Luffy asked, looking at Zoro, who shrugged, uncaring. Luffy turned back to the action. "Hey Gin!"

Gin turned from trying to convince the chefs to leave, seemingly only remembering there were others present as he did. "What?"

"How long did you all survive on the Grand Line? I'm betting on… four, five days." Luffy ignored Gin stiffening in anger and fear as Luffy's question brought back the hellish memories. "But I'm wondering if it was just the weather or something else which did that to your ship." _Or rather someone. I just want to know who…_

Cringing, Gin held his head, his eyes wild. "S, seven days…for seven days we sailed, no direction, no way to tell where we were, no way to tell if we were making any progress, as snow, storm, beasts and monstrous waves tore at us, like the whole world had gone mad! Then on the seventh day, just as the seas calmed down, **he** appeared!"

A full body shiver gripped Gin from head to toe, but he went on describing what had occurred. "One instant we thought we were safe then **he** started sinking our ships one by one! If it wasn't for a freak storm that picked up our ship and hauled it away, even the flagship would have been sunk!"

"He?" Sanji asked, curious as Zoro's eyes widened in sudden supposition, staring out the door to the ship than over at Gin, gripping his swords tightly.

"To think the entire fifty-ship Krieg Fleet…it was ALL sunk by one man! Impossible!" Sanji and all the cooks looked completely terrified of the thought. "The entire fleet was crushed by one man?!"

Even Nami and Zoro looked unsettled. Makino and Luffy however didn't which, when Zoro and Nami realized it, was rather telling. Luffy simply nodded his head making go-on motions with one hand. "Yes, but do you know what his name was, what did he look like?"

Gin shook his head. "I don't know his name…but he was the most terrifying man I've ever come across, with, with this terrifying gaze! It haunts me even now the glare from those yellow, hawk eyes!"

Zoro stiffened, shooting a look at Luffy who slowly nodded his head.

For his part, Zeff simply crossed his arms, looking almost as blasé at the story as Luffy and Makino. "Then it was his work for sure." Gin lifted his head and stared, "Hawk Eyes alone isn't much proof…but his handiwork proves it for you."

"Hawk Eyes Mihawk, the man I've been looking for all this time." Zoro breathed, his own eyes wild now with eager battlelust.

"So, why did he attack you?" Sanji asked, after draining his cigarette down to the nub. "Did he bear you some grudge?"

"Perhaps you disturbed his nap?" Zeff said, shaking his head. "I remember he was reported to be rather cranky if woken up out of the blue."

"THAT'S BULLSHIT!" Gin roared, "He'd destroy an entire fleet for that?!"

"That's the kind of place the Grand Line is brat, besides, it was just a thought." Zeff retorted. "No need to get all irritated by the truth of how weak you are in comparison to the real world."

Luffy laughed suddenly, a carefree excited sound without a hint of fear in it that caused both Nami and Makino to smile. "God I am so looking forward to this, screw staying in East Blue for another month ,we are so going to the Grand Line as soon as possible! "

"Looks like I made the right decision, signing up with you Luffy." Zoro said, his own laughter joining Luffy's only even more wild. "My goal lies along the same path as yours!"

Sanji shook his head. "You're the type to rush to your deaths, aren't you, a pair of idiots. Just don't drag your sister down with you!" He looked around suddenly. "Where is the beauteous Ranko anyway? I would have thought she'd come and see what was going on at least."

"Oy, leave out the 'idiot' part of that statement Curly-cook." Zoro said, smirking at the blonde chef and incidentally taking his attention off the 'missing' Ranko before Luffy had to. "Ever since I decided I would become the greatest swordsman in the world, I cast away any attachment to life. If I die in pursuit of my dream, that's all it was worth. I chose this path, so the only one who can call me an idiot is me."

Luffy grinned, his dark eyes gleaming with battle light, and even more conviction. "Same here." To one side of him, Makino smiled shaking her head but saying nothing while beside her Nami stared between the two men of the crew, memories of her dreams and the love of map-making she'd had while younger warring with the here and now.

By this point Krieg's rage at how Luffy had manhandled had reached the boiling point. His voice began to carry over the intervening water, either browbeating his crew into action, and they came boiling up to the railings of their damaged flagship, which began to slowly move toward the Baratie.

Seeing this Luffy and Zoro moved to the door smirking over at the various chefs. "Don't worry we're after Krieg's bounty anyway. You don't have to dirty your icckle hands." Luffy taunted, and just like he had expected all of the cooks took umbrage at that.

All except Zeff, who retaliated in kind. "That bounty of his might just cover the repairs to my restaurant after you're done. Your swordsman friend practically carved up half my restaurant with that little stunt with the bullets!"

"He's still working on control true." Luffy said with a smirk, shaking his head. "But I would wager that those repairs would only take about 30,000 bell, not the 24,000,000 Krieg is supposed to be worth."

"I'll be the one to decide that," the old man said grumpily, marching out behind them at the lead of his chefs.

"You see," Krieg was saying as they came out onto the deck pointing at the floating restaurant. "It will be perfect! No one will suspect…"

Luffy's eyes suddenly narrowed, his danger senses tingling. He wasn't very good at Observation Haki , not yet. It was easily the worst of his three Haki types, but his danger sense was extremely well-attuned. He watched as something cut into the ship from the side cutting it entirely in half as easily as if the large ship had been made out of bread rather than metal and wood.

"Oh my god How, wh, what just happened!" Nami gasped from where she and Makino had come out behind the boys, her eyes wide and staring, as was Johnny and Yosaku's, who had taken the rowboat over to the restaurant a few minutes earlier from the Bastard, which was anchored a ways off the other side of the Baratie. Makino had sent them off to move the ship away when Krieg's flagship had first been spotted.

"Someone cut it with a sword strike," Luffy murmured, scratching at his hair under his straw hat thoughtfully. "Interesting."

"You said that you still can't cut iron with a Rankyaku, right?" Zoro said calmly, though his hands were now clenched over his swords, and he was staring forward, his intense face belying his casual words.

"That's right, not yet. I mean I could use some other techniques to cut steel, but I promised myself I wouldn't use those in the East Blue, it would be like taking candy from babies." Luffy murmured in the same tone, his own eyes staring through the waterspout and panicking people as the ship began to capsize starting from the areas newly cut. "There's someone there," he said, before Zoro could comment on what he'd just said.

Nami however had made a note of it, and she gawked at him. Beside her Makino simply shook her head, her own eyes intent on the activity in the water. "I wonder who it could be. I haven't heard any rumors of any of the powers of the world coming to the East Blue…"

"It's not him Makino, I'd be able to tell, sorry." Luffy said absentmindedly, causing Makino to sigh sadly, though she didn't turn away. For her part Nami wondered what he meant by saying he would be able to tell, placing that alongside what Luffy had just said earlier.

"You," shouted a pirate clinging to the top of a bit of wreckage as it sank deeper into the water. "What are you doing here?! Didn't you kill enough of us already, why did you have to follow us!?"

The man so addressed was tall, extremely tall, so much so that he looked like he was about 2 feet taller than Zoro or Luffy. He was even taller than Krieg by at least a foot, but he was thin, his body built for speed and dexterity rather than strength. He was currently sitting in a small, seemingly flat ship shaped like a coffin with a cross stuck in the center, which he was using as the back of his chair currently.

He wore black pantaloons and a long cloak both of them black and dark purple. Around his bare neck he wore a chain with a small cross hanging from it. On his back he wore a large sword, almost as large as he was tall, with a large gold cross hilt, and a slightly curved, very wide black blade.

The man had a neat goatee, and yes, yellow hawk-like eyes which stared dispassionately back at the pirate that had so addressed him. "To kill time," he said simply.

"Screw you!" said more than one pirate, opening fire with their pistols. But the man didn't even bother standing up, simply pulling out his sword and flicking it lightly a few times, that was all. The bullets were all redirected by the air pressure, impacting the ocean all around him.

A pirate nearby on a piece of flotsam which had drifted to bump against the floating restaurant's side shook his head. "What, what just happened there?"

Zoro stood forward, smiling intently his eyes wild. "He redirected them with air pressure," he said simply. _He made it so easy, and didn't damage anything else either like I did earlier!_

"Magnificent skill!" he shouted, addressing the man on the boat. "Just as I would expect from the greatest swordsman in the world!"

"Of course," the man said simply, looking at Zoro with only slightly more interest than he had the pirates earlier. "Strength without power is simple brutality. A swordsman must have both strength and skill."

"Well said!" Zoro nodded, leaping forward, hopping from one piece of flotsam to another until he arrived on a portion of their flagship which had settled into the water and now seemed stable. "You are definitely the man I have been searching for! I challenge you, Hawk Eyes Mihawk!"

"Foolish," the man said, even as he stood up from his own boat, leaping over onto the same piece of flotsam that Zoro stood on. "A swordsman should know how to analyze the strength of his opponent. I am beyond you."

To one side Krieg stared at this confrontation scowling angrily, but willing to see how it played out. The ease with which Hawk Eyes had utterly destroyed his entire fleet and now just cut his own flagship in half was enough to keep him still for now despite his normal arrogance.

"How will I know that unless I try!" Zoro said, pulling out his bandanna and tying it over his hair, placing his white-hilted sword in his mouth as he took out two of the swords he had taken from the Bastard's armory that morning. There was nothing special about them, they were just heavy katanas, but they would serve. He hoped.

A few of the pirates saw Zoro like this, and one of them gasped aloud. "That, that's Pirate Hunter!"

"The Demon Pirate Hunter?" Krieg murmured, now interested in spite of himself as to what was going to happen, while more than a few of his crew cried out in shock, shouting at one another as they wondered how this was going to go.

Hawk Eyes on the other hand simply seemed amused. "It seems you have a modicum of notoriety, but this is East Blue, the weakest of the oceans, your name matters not at all." Hawke Eyes pulled out a tiny knife from the cross he had been wearing on his around his neck.

"What are you doing with that toy!?" Zoro asked angrily.

"Even if you have challenged me, I do not intend to seem a bully. Indeed I should apologize, this is the smallest blade I have." Mihawk replied.

Zoro's eyes practically glowed with fury and he crouched down, a sword held close to his body on either side of him as he glared at his target. "We'll see if you sing a different tune in a second! **Onigiri!** "

With that he charged forward his body disappearing to most of those around him, his swords flashing out in an intricate display of sword work, Santoryou against the tiny knife in Hawk Eye's hands. For his part Hawk Eyes blocked the attacks with seeming ease, though his brow furrowed as he felt his knife begin to crack under the impacts. _Interesting, he is far stronger than he appears. Let's see if he has anything else under his sleeve._

With that Hawk Eye's began to bat aside Zoro's attack, almost getting through Zoro's defenses in a millisecond. But Zoro stepped back quickly, dodging to one side and off the portion of the shattered ship they were currently fighting on. He began hopping in midair for a moment as he brought his swords back over his shoulder and launched out "Thousand Yard Slash!" this was the long range attack he had been working on, the more serious version of the air pressure waves he'd used earlier to deflect Kreig's musket balls inside the restaurant.

 _A long-range attack from a swordsman in East blue!_ Hawk Eyes thought to himself, stepping slightly backwards putting all of his weight on his back foot as he thrust his little dagger forward, catching the long-range attack on the blade, which shattered under the impact.

"Feel like taking this more seriously now?" asked Zoro, still hopping in midair if rather haphazardly, breathing deeply as his arms began to send twinges of pain to his brain.

"You have learned one of the six Rokushiki. Yet even so, you should still know that this battle is beyond you," Hawk Eyes said, reaching over his shoulder. "However, for your courage and what measure of skill you have achieved in this, the weakest of the Five Seas, I will give you this honor. The greatest sword in the world, the Black Blade."

As soon as he had to sword in his hand Hawk Eyes glared at Zoro, bringing all of his **will** to bear on the other swordsman. Dracule Mihawk was not called Hawk Eyes just because he had the eyes and narrow face of a predator. His gaze had a power that could freeze lesser men, a sort of personalized Haki attack that he had developed over the years.

Zoro shivered under the weight of that glare but did not retreat hopping down to land once again on the ship facing Hawk Eyes. After a second Hawk Eyes let up the pressure and shook his head somewhat admiringly before Zoro attacked again.

Immediately it was apparent that Hawk Eyes had not only been holding back but held back by his choice of weapon. The giant blade flicked this way and that as light as a rapier in his hand, but blasted aside Zoro's attack like the massive near-claymore it was in size.

In contrast, despite his years of training before Luffy and the weeks since with him, Zoro was completely outclassed. His swords could barely deflect Hawk Eyes attacks, and his eyes and body could barely keep up with the speed of his opponent. _It can't be, it can't be this far away, the real world can't be this far away_ Zoro thought to himself angrily, not having really believed Luffy's warnings on the subject.

The exchange lasted a full minute, instead of going for a slash at Zoro's head Hawk Eyes had feinted that way. This pulled his opponent's defenses entirely out of position and Hawk Eyes stabbed forward, aiming at Zoro's upper chest.

But even though he couldn't get his swords back in position to block, Zoro still had his latest training to fall back on. "Tekkai!" he shouted, toughening his body right before impact.

Then there was a sound like a slab of meat being stabbed, a 'SHLICK' noise which reverberated around the suddenly still scene. Hawk Eyes locked eyes with Zoro, who glared back at him. The Black Blade should have stabbed Zoro straight through, but Hawk Eyes hadn't put enough strength behind the thrust to break Zoro's Tekkai. Even so, the blade's tip had sunk in a good few cm. into Zoro's flesh.

"Zoro!" Nami screamed, Makino closed her eyes and shook her head. Luffy's hands clenched on the Baratie's railing so hard it broke like cheap cardboard under his hands.

Beside him Johnny and Yosaku both roared aloud, "Zoro-Aniki!" and made to charge forward.

But Luffy swiftly grabbed them both by the scruff of their next, slamming them down face first into the deck. "Don't! Don't dishonor Zoro like that, and don't get yourselves killed, you damn fools. This is a fight between swordsmen, you should know what that means to him!"

Despite his words to them however, Luffy was having his own issues with not interfering. Even his Haoshoku began to leak out slightly, causing Zeff to look at him sharply. But after a second he turned his attention back to the fight as Luffy did.

For a moment the two swordsmen simply stood there and Hawk Eyes eye's narrowed. "Why do you not retreat?"

"I don't know. I just know that backing away would be more painful than death, and I can't do it."

 _This boy,_ Hawk Eyes thought, staring into the eyes locked with his own. They were not the eyes of a dead man or a defeated man, nor were they angry or anything else. Accepting, challenging, and with a hidden will behind them, a vibrant, powerful will even here on the edge of death. _It has been a long time since I saw eyes like that._

Hawk Eyes pulled his blade back, shaking his head as Zoro grunted, blood now leaking heavily down his chest. "Boy, what is your name?"

"Roronoa Zoro!" Zoro said as he brought his swords into an odd position, the hilt of one pressed to a right angle to the hilt of the other as he held them out in front of his body, making a strange sort of pinwheel formation with the sword of his mouth.

"Roronoa Zoro," Hawk Eyes said slowly as he pulled back his blade, smiling thinly. "I will remember it."

"Thank you for that," Zoro said. "But I don't intend to die here!" With that he charged forward. "Santoryou Secret Technique, Three Thousand worlds!"

Hawk Eyes met him, and in a single brutal attack slashed through the technique and out the other side, shattering the two blades in Zoro's hand in return for two tiny cuts, one on his cheek, the other on his shoulder. But that was all and both men knew who had won.

 _I lost, I lost_. _I never really thought I would. But it this was on my ambition was worth then I can accept that too._ Zoro thought. With that he turned to face Hawk Eyes as Hawk Eyes did the same.

The greatest swordsman in the world frowned as Zoro held out his arms to either side, the white tilted blade sheathed now in one hand. "What are you doing?"

Zoro grinned almost manically, but made no move to run, simply staring death in the face. "A wound in the back is a swordsman's shame."

At those words Hawk Eyes actually allowed himself a smile while those watching had various reactions, with Sanji's being the most negative. "Well said!" With that Mihawk slashed forward, his blade opening Zoro up from one shoulder down to his hip hurling him backwards in a welter of blood to land several feet behind where he had previously been standing.

Luffy **lost it** , he lost it completely. The sight of Zoro falling back, his blood spraying everywhere from that strike broke Luffy's self-control as if it had never existed. Not only of himself, but of the demon within him, the Haoshoku.

Hawk Eyes had barely a single moment to register the fact that someone was using Haoshoku nearby before he was flying backwards, two of his ribs broken from a blow that he had barely seen fast enough to dodge slightly, just enough to keep it from doing more damage. He quickly recovered, bringing up his sword blade to block the next few blows. This allowed him to notice, with growing astonishment, that his attacker's entire body was now black with Armament Haki. _A straw hat? Is this boy…_

Luffy mindlessly began to pummel Mihawk's defenses, not noticing the effect his unleashed Haoshoku was having on the people around him. Most of the pirates and chefs collapsed, their wills crushed under the weight of Luffy's. Carne, Patty, Gin and a man who had pulled himself out of the ocean wearing a very odd set of armor held on for a brief moment before collapsing. Krieg held on to his mind, but his knees buckled, and he bit down on his lip drawing blood to keep from joining his crew wondering what the hell this was.

Of Luffy's crew, Makino had buckled at first, but pushed herself to her feet quickly. She had felt this pressure before, not just from Luffy but from Shanks. The red-haired pirate was a master at both using and actually targeting his Haoshoku toward a single individual. She liked to think that it was as much her own understated willpower as it had been her body which had attracted Shanks.

Beside her Nami went to her knees, shivering and shaking, her will nearly crushed under the weight of Luffy's until Makino wrapped an arm around her. She didn't recover after that, but she also didn't fall apart further.

Even Sanji had done well, falling to his knees at first before shakily pushing himself up right. He looked around wildly, only to stop as he stared at Zeff, who had seemingly borne up under whatever this attack was without even flinching. The old man looked at his ward and smirked. "That feeling boy, that is conviction, **will** given physical form! That boy has the Hoashoku! Hah, I never thought I'd see something like this in East Blue!"

"B, but it's not effecting Hawk Eyes at all! He's going to die just like his friend!" Sanji spluttered.

"Does it look as if he cares!? Look at his eyes boy. Those are the eyes of a dreamer who's willing to put his life on the line to achieve his dream. Just like that swordsman's eyes. People like that, they'll never back away, they'll never back down. They will keep on going to achieve their dreams or die trying, and you better make certain they're dead!"

Zeff chuckled, shaking his head before almost glaring at Sanji. "I remember a boy once who had the same look in his eyes. I wonder where he went?"

At that Sanji looked at him sharply then away, scowling angrily and biting into his cigarette so hard that he bit all the way through it. Then he caught sight of the girls, and his chivalry came to the fore. "Damn it Shitty Strawhat, cut it out!" he shouted. "You're hurting the ladies!"

But Luffy was in no position to care, simply filled with the desire to make the bastard in front of him pay, his rage overriding all of his self-control. It even made him forget some of his own skill in favor of simply caving in Mihawk's head with his fist.

"Bah, best to see if that swordsman's still alive shitty eggplant, I think I can see his chest still moving." Zeff said, moving forward himself to the two combatants. "I'll deal with this."

"Calm down!" Mihawk shouted, even as he was forced backwards. The boy was insanely fast, fast enough to make Mihawk work at keeping his fists away, and even if his Haki was slowly starting to fade, his speed wasn't going down, whereas his broken ribs were beginning to slow Mihawk. "Your friend is not dead!"

As Sanji reached him Zoro gasped, his eyes snapping open as he coughed up blood. He could feel the pressure on his body, but his almost unconscious state just then had actually helped somewhat in shielding his psyche from it. He held up his sword, pushing Sanji's arms away. "L, Luffy, can you hear me!?"

Luffy's attacks paused, and he turned in place, his Haki fading in his body as he stared at the white-hilted blade being held up to where he could see it over the Baratie's gunnels. When he spoke, his voice was ragged as he tried to regain his self-control, glaring between the sword and Hawk Eyes. "I, I can hear you Zoro."

Across from Luffy Mihawk's lips formed a broad grin which few indeed had ever seen. _This swordsman, this Roronoa Zoro! Wounded so badly, yet he was able to not only push himself back into consciousness but also to push aside his captain's Haoshoku! There is indeed a will there, a strong magnificent will! And this boy, my god, hahahaha, they will be powers in this world!_

"It is too early for you to die Roronoa Zoro!" Mihawk shouted, turning slightly away from Luffy to stare at the Meitou blade. "My name is Dracule Mihawk! Learn about yourself! Learn about the world! Become strong, and **surpass me** Roronoa Zoro!"

For a moment everyone was quiet as Luffy slowly began to reign in his Haoshoku, glaring at Mihawk, his teeth clenched. Then Zoro responded, not to Mihawk, not directly, but to Luffy. "S, sorry for worrying you… I know that if I don't become the Greatest Swordsman, you'll be embarrassed as my captain."

He coughed out blood, and Sanji grit his teeth, seeing the man who should be on death's door struggling on. "I swear…that until they day I fight him and win…I'll never lose again! Any problems with that, Pirate King?!"

Mihawk's eyes widened, as did his grin. "Is that your dream boy? That is an even more dangerous road than trying to surpass me."

"Like I care," Luffy retorted, the pressure still leaking from him. "It's my dream, and I will give my life to achieve it!"

"Well said," Mihawk replied for the second time that day, turning around as Luffy did the same leaping back over to the Baratie.

Now finished reining in his Haoshoku Luffy moved towards Nami quickly. She was the weakest of his friends and he knew she would have suffered under it the most. She flinched as she caught sight of him, and he winced.

"Easy, I'm still me, Nami." he said softly. "Luffy, the guy with the weird curse, the one who you say shouldn't be allowed to navigate my way out of a bathtub. The one who you smack on the back of the head on a near daily basis for damaging the _Bastard_. Don't, don't look at me like I'm a monster, please." Luffy finished, his voice dropping to near pleading.

Nami looked up at him, and then seemed to shake herself. The fear slowly disappeared, and she reached out touching Luffy's face wonderingly. "You, you've been holding that in this whole time?"

"Yeah," Luffy replied, sighing in relief. "I can explain it later if you want. I was thinking of training you in something that's kind of connected to that ability eventually anyway."

Nami nodded slowly, and Luffy tried to analyze the look in her deep brown eyes. There was no fear there now, only some kind of wonder, astonishment and… was that hope? _Huh, maybe some good will have come from my losing control like a fucking child!_ Luffy thought, castigating himself severely. He could have done irreparable harm to his friends, and those other guys he supposed, by losing control like that.

With a sigh Luffy stood up, pulling his straw hat off his head and placing it gently on Nami's head. "Look after that for me, will ya?" As she stammered a reply, knowing full well how Luffy felt about his hat, he turned to Makino, who nodded at him, her arms still around Nami.

With the two ladies seen to Luffy turned back to the sea in time to see Krieg who had apparently recovered somehow and begun to fire on Hawk Eyes. The swordsman however simply deflected or ignored the weapons fired at him, sailing away.

"What the hell are you?" Sanji asked, glaring up at Luffy. "You and that swordsman, what the hell was that!?"

"Will made manifest," Luffy replied with a shrug. He looked over at Zeff, noting that Krieg was the only one of the pirates that had been able to survive his Haoshoku, though he was in the process of beating his crew back to life. "Hey, I know it's, y'know, tradition for the two pirate captains to have an epic fight, but frankly I couldn't care less about it right now. You mind if I end this quick?"

"Feh, it wouldn't have been a fight anyway shitty moron. It would have been like watching a cat play with a mouse." Zeff shrugged, shaking his head. With that he turned, rousing his cooks with sharp kicks from his peg leg.

Luffy flinched internally at the imagery, but then shook his head, too tired to put up with Krieg. A second later Sanji almost lost trake of him as he leaped into the air and over to Krieg and his pirates. The pirates had barely a moment to look up before a Rankyaku slammed into them.

"You mothe-GAHH!" Krieg fared no better, having a bare second to realize Luffy was there before a single punch slammed into his chest plate and through it his ribs. Those ribs splintered, filling his organs with shrapnel including his heart, and he died before he could realize he was under attack.

Luffy stared down at the body dispassionately, then grabbed it up and hauled it back to the Baratie as Sanji and a few of the other chefs stared in shock. "How's Zoro?"

Makino and Nami had joined Sanji and after quieting the chef's worries about them, begun to work on their first mate. Neither looked up, but Makino replied quickly. "We might need to get him to a doctor, but I think I can stitch the wounds closed. He'll live, but he won't have his full strength for at least a few weeks."

As Sanji stuttered at the idea it would only take a few weeks for Zoro to recover form that heinous a wound, Luffy nodded, waving off Nami's attempt to give him his hat back. "You look like you need it more than me Nami." He said simply then smiled weakly. "Besides, this just puts one of my treasures on another you know? All my crew is my treasure."

Nami blinked at that then blushed, before grinning brightly up at Luffy, one of very few completely real smiles she had given him since they met.

In her mind, Nami was going through what could be termed an epiphany. Luffy was stronger than Arlong. Her mind and emotions now had to agree on this, indeed her nightmare of Arlong could simply not stand up to the reality of the strength Luffy was hiding within him. And he was her friend, and had always, **always** treated her like one. Luffy had never even questioned her about her past, never caring about it or about why she needed money. Instead he simply held out his hand, waiting for her to be ready to take it.

Which Nami now realized she was ready to do. "I, I want to talk to you later, okay Luffy?"

Luffy nodded then turned to Zeff. "So, since I saved your restaurant, you think it's alright if I take Sanji with us?"

"OY! Don't talk about me like I'm a shitty parcel you can barter for, you shitty straw hat! Even if Ranko, Nami and Makino all asked me I won't leave this restaurant." Sanji shouted, then walked off, muttering curses under his breath as Zeff chuckled, motioning a few of his chefs forward to start tying up unconscious pirates, making extra certain they tied up Gin and the armored man as tightly as possible.

A few hours later, Luffy found Sanji sitting alone, leaning against the fish head. "Yo."

Sanji looked up at him and Luffy smiled, squatting across from him. Sanji looked at him, but Luffy simply waited, not saying anything for a bit. "You really believe that thing you said to Gin don't you, that risking your life is the only way to achieve your dream?"

"It is in this world," Luffy shrugged then smirked, reaching forward to poke Sanji's shoulder. "I came out here to ask you again to join my crew, but why did dreams come to mind? Do you have one? Or should that be, did you have one once, considering how ya don't want to leave this restaurant no matter how hard Zeff tries to push you out of the nest."

Sanji scowled, puffing on his cigarette for a long moment and when he spoke he replied to Luffy's comment rather than his questions. "I know that, he's been trying to drive me out for over a year now. But how am I supposed to repay my debt to the old man if I don't stay here and help him with his own dream?"

"Do you think that's what he wants? Or would he rather see you chase your own dream?" Luffy replied, not asking about what debt Sanji had to Zeff. He had something of an idea, but he didn't need to know the details.

Again Sanji fell silent for a moment, turning away as he remembered Zeff's words from earlier as well as the astonishing **pressure** Luffy had let out during his brief clash with the Shichibukai. Then he grinned suddenly. "Hey, have you ever heard of All Blue?"

Following that conversation, Sanji had a long talk with Zeff interspersed with a lot of fighting and cursing. Neither were really good with emotional stuff, but eventually Sanji finally realized that yes, Zeff wanted to see Sanji out chasing his dream, and no, he didn't want Sanji to keep trying to repay him. Sanji went to Luffy and asked to join his crew a few moments after, though was disappointed to hear that 'Ranko' was down with a headache.

Luffy wanted to wait for just the right moment to spring his curse on the cook. He wanted to be well away from the Baratie when he did, just in case Sanji had second thoughts. He didn't think Sanji would now that his dream to find All Blue had been brought back to the fore, but better safe than sorry.

Later that night Luffy waited, sitting against the _Bastard_ 's main mast, watching the door into the captain's quarters. Nami eventually came out with his straw hat still on her head. She paused in the doorway for just a moment as she saw him there then came forward.

Wordlessly Luffy stood up, moving gently towards her, standing an arm's length away from her. Nami crossed the distance, burying her head against his chest. Luffy's arms went around her, and he held her as she quietly began to sob. Then eventually she said the words he'd been longing to hear for weeks now. "Luffy, help me!"

Later, Luffy gently put Nami to bed, coming out of the room only to find the rest of his small crew waiting. He looked at them all, then Makino in particular cocking an eyebrow. "We didn't hear everything," she said simply. "But we heard her crying. I had to sit on Sanji rather hard, but Zoro helped."

Luffy nodded and filled them all in on Arlong as much as he felt Nami would want them to know. There was no need to mention the threats he made toward her sister, and how said sister could 'pay her way', or some of the looks he'd sent Nami in the past few years. Those he would keep to himself and use as fuel when it came time to face Arlong in person.

"So we're going to slice this bastard in half. Are you sure we're not pirates instead of heroes?" Zoro quipped, grimacing from his wounds but still game.

"No," Luffy said with a very dangerous smile on his face. "We're going to kick their asses as pirates. I'm staying in this form until we're done, and we're not only going to beat Arlong down, we're going to crush him, his ambitions and then steal all his money. I want him and everyone else who sees what we do to know why we're doing it."

"Because he's an utter bastard?" Makino asked.

"Because he enslaved Nami and her island?" Zoro asked.

"Because he dared to use the darling Nami-chan like that!" Sanji exclaimed, a fire in his eyes at the very idea.

"No, we're going to do this for a much simpler reason, though it does tie into all of that. He took away her dreams," Luffy said simply, picking up the ball Fullbody's ship had shot at the _Bastard_. "He took away her dreams, made them into a nightmare, and he made my navigator, my **friend** cry."

The metal ball began to warp in his grip, his fingers digging into it as the sound of tortured metal rose around them. "I'm going to feed Arlong his own asshole." **'Crack** ' went the ball as it shattered in Luffy's grip. "And that's if I'm feeling gentle."

 **End Chapter**

* * *

Two points I know people will ask: Yes, I could have found a way to show Sanji the curse here, but I decided to wait until the most… opportune moment. Then too, the area where it might have been accidentally revealed was during the fight with Mihawk, and I felt doing so would have taken away from the fight.

And two, could Luffy have beaten Mihawk? **NO.** The only way Luffy could have beaten Mihawk at this point is if he had been in his right mind, and used a point blank, skin touching skin Kijin Raishu Dan. Anything else would have given Mihawk enough time to dodge or try to block. If they had fought to the end, Luffy would have lost. He would have make Mihawk pay for it with a few more broken bones, but he would have lost in the end. In my opinion, Mihawk is easily head and shoulders above the rest of the Shichibukai bar Blackbeard, and could be considered almost as dangerous as a Yonko in personal combat. And Luffy at the moment is in no way ready for that kind of combat. He could surprise them with his Ranma-verse techniques and the Haoshoku like he did here, but beat them, no. Anyway, hope you all enjoyed this!


	5. Chapter 5

Not Oda or Rumiko.

This is going to be the last chapter in this fic until the end of November. I feel this is the best place to cut off the story here on fanfic. I will update the remaining chapters in two groups, one at the end of November, and one in December. Hope you enjoy it.

Once more this has only been edited by myself and Hiryo, so there will no doubt be mistakes within it.

* * *

 **Chapter 5: Seahorse Trumps Shark**

Nami woke up the next day and the first thing she saw was Luffy's straw hat, his treasure as he had called it more than a few times, on her bedside table. At the sight of the hat the memory of last night flooded back and unfortunately so did her fear of Arlong. His shadow had dominated her life for so long, from the moment the Fishmen Pirates had shown up in the archipelago and killed Bellemere right there in front of her. Even now Arlong was still there in her mind, unstoppable, terrible.

And yet the longer she looked at that straw hat and was reminded of the man who wore it (man/woman anyway) Nami felt that fear being washed away like a sand castle facing a storm. After what she had seen, after what she had **felt** from Luffy, that monster within him that Luffy had chained, there was no doubt in Nami's conscious mind any longer that Luffy could do it. Luffy could beat Arlong, he could save both her and her village, and he would.

Exiting her room out onto the _Bastard_ 's deck Nami found the crew, and Jonny and Yosaku moving around as they could, with their newest member Sanji complaining volubly about the amount of work it took for seven people to man the large ship. "Join the damn club, curly brow!" Zoro replied as she opened her door, grunting as he heaved on the lines in the face of a pretty decent clip wind from almost dead astern.

Nami rolled her eyes, moving forward quickly as she felt the direction of the wind on her skin before barking out orders. "Luffy get aloft and trim the sails to…" she rattled off a few more orders then looked at the four boys still remaining on the deck and gave them similar orders. With that done she raced up the short staircase to the tiller on the aft deck, and she and Makino pulled the tiller around to let the wind carry them forward.

That wind continued to carry them from almost directly astern for about an hour, then died down to practically nothing. Again Nami bellowed orders to trim the sails in a different direction, but after that, they could practically leave the ship on its own, with Luffy holding the tiller steady.

At that point Nami sighed, looking around the crew before bowing her head. "Thank you all, from the bottom of my heart," she said sincerely. "Thank you for helping me and my village. I, I have no right to ask that of you, I was, I was planning to leave you all in the lurch, to steal your gold in order to pay Arlong off, and yet you still…"

"But you didn't!" Makino said, throwing one arm around the younger girl and pulling her into a hug. "Thoughts do not condemn us, only actions Nami. You didn't steal from us. Yes, you might have lied about your past somewhat, you might have lied about your willingness to join us. But your lies didn't hurt any of us, and you only truly lied because you were worried for **us** instead of yourself, weren't you?"

Nami trembled, biting her lip as she fought to keep tears from her eyes. She wasn't used to being so easily read, let alone understood. She was used to being spat upon, to being condemned by her fellow villagers for working with Arlong, and hated and attacked by the pirates she stole from for betraying them.

"All right that's enough of this sappy nonsense," Zoro broke in, shaking his head. "That's not the witch I've grown to know. Where is the moneygrubbing, where's the anger and the violence?"

Luffy laughed staying silent as Nami rounded on Zoro, about to bash his head in when someone else beat her to it. Sanji launched himself into a kick that nearly took Zoro's head off, landing delicately on his feet on Zoro's other side as he glared at the swordsman. "How dare you talk to a lady like that you bastard!"

Then he turned, twirling in place like a ballerina before going to his knees in front of Nami. "Oh such sorrow, such melancholy that you had to deal with Nami-swan! And that I could not have seen it first and properly put myself at your beck and call, I am ashamed, ashamed I say that I did not realize the straits you were in. But never fear, your gallant knight will free you from this vile miscreant who has you under his thrall!"

"You're making me want to puke," Zoro muttered.

A second later Sanji was suddenly in his face. "Hoh, did the national treasure say something?"

"Oh no, I didn't say anything," Zoro said shaking his head and looking away. "I'm sorry, I just don't speak snail."

Rolling his eyes Luffy decided to cut things off before the two other men could antagonize one another further. _One's a swordsman, the other sounds almost like Kuno, so very, very weird…_ He had no idea why the two had taken such instant dislike of one another, but he couldn't help but find it funny regardless.

Still right now wasn't the time for a comedy act. "Why don't you tell us about this Arlong character and his crew anyway Nami? How many fish-men are we talking about here, do they have spies among the villagers?"

"And why in the world haven't the Marines already taken them out anyway? Even here in East Blue the marines shouldn't allow pirates to build up that kind of power base without being challenged." Makino said seriously, exchanging a glance with Luffy.

Luffy sighed but nodded reluctantly. As much as he and his grandfather hadn't parted ways very amicably the last time they had seen one another, right after the Grey Terminal fire, he knew Garp would've come down on Arlong like a ton of cannonballs, possibly literally, if he had known the former Grand Line pirate was here. _That is unless he had orders not to…_

"Arlong has around 75 fish-men with him, though only three of them are officers. One of them is a hand-to-hand fighter. Kuroobi's his name, and he might be the smartest on the crew. Another is a long ranger sniper named Chew. He spits out water from his mouth that moves so fast it puts musket balls to shame and his like a cannon ball. Another is Hachi. He's an octopus type fish-man with eight arms who uses swords in all them."

Nami was interrupted at that point by Zoro, his eyes gleaming. "Did you say swordsman?"

The orange haired girl shook her head. "Your one track mind disturbs me." She exchanged a sneer with Zoro who had just flipped her the bird then watched in amusement as Makino quickly stepped between Sanji and Zoro before the chef could attack Zoro again for that, acting like the smallest peace force in the world.

Even so her voice was still serious as she continued to speak. "And then there's Arlong himself he is strong, monstrously so." "I've seen him lift an entire house out of its foundations and just flip it, and he's immune to bullets. They just bounce off his skin." _Bellemere…_

"Wait," said Johnny exchanging a glance with Yosaku. The two of them had been silent up to this point, not having any idea what was going on since they hadn't been part of last night's discussion among the crew and had sort of been in the dog house with Luffy. They had led the chefs of the Baratie in tying up and gathering the former Krieg pirates, and had accidently let Gin, Don Krieg's right hand man, escape. Luffy had no idea where the man had gone, and really didn't care overmuch, but it was still irritating.

Nami had honestly forgotten they were even there, and from the looks on her crew's faces, they had too. _Guess they're just forgettable like that,_ she thought, looking over at Luffy who was blinking at the two as if surprised they were still on the ship.

The two bounty hunters missed this exchange as Yosaku took over. "You guys are going to take on Arlong?! You can't! He used to be part of the crew of the Royal ShichibukaiJinbei, he's a monster in the shape of a man!"

"But he's not anymore right?" Luffy asked intently. _If that was still the case, that could be why none of the Marines in the area wanted to take him on._

"Well, the rumor is he was expelled for some reason," said Johnny. "But he's still super strong! He's a real Grand Line veteran."

"And yet he's here in East Blue," Luffy said shaking his head.

Zoro nodded. "I've heard of Arlong, but I never heard anything much about how strong he was in comparison to other Grand Line Pirates. And his crew doesn't sound like much either not after the training we've been doing. And if worse comes to worse, Luffy can breakout that pressure thing he used that we still haven't talked about…" he said looking over at Luffy who looked away sheepishly.

"I don't really want to have to use my Haoshoku haki, that's its name, again. I sort of, that was just a loss of control that I'm not really proud of. It won't happen again, and I don't want to use it given how much attention it would get us from the Marines, although if you could not get yourself cut up into pieces that would be great." He said looking from Zoro to his other crewmen.

"That brings up another point!" said Yosaku, pointing at Zoro dramatically, shivering slightly as he decided to ignore that event entirely, the memory was just too terrifying. "How can you even think about getting into another fight so soon after being injured!? In fact how the hell are you even moving Aniki!?"

"Bah its nothing," Zoro said shaking his head. "Willpower can conquer all."

"That, and the painkiller I've been putting in your food since you were injured~," Makino said sweetly bursting his bubble with a certain amount of malicious amusement.

Zoro glared at her but she simply smiled back amiably, and his glare subsided quickly. The last time he argued with Makino, he nearly caught a black-covered finger in the eye for his troubles.

"Anyway, screw that," Zoro said, shaking his head. "Wounds or no wounds I'm going to take part in this. I might not be fond of the ginger witch, but she's still part of our group, and this bastard took away years of her life."

"There are parts of that sentence that I don't like…" Nami growled, before shaking her head and smiling at Zoro. "But thanks for the sentiment anyway."

"So how are we going to do this?" Luffy asked, from where he was still standing by the tiller. Nami waved a hand at him indicating he should wait then raced back into her room before coming back with a map.

The others crowded around the tiller as she laid the map out on the ground where Luffy could see it without moving away from the wheel. "We're here I think," Nami said staring up into the daytime sky then over the sides.

Noting the movement of the water below the ship and then calculating how far they could've gone in the night before she moved the stone marker she was using to mark their ship's position slightly. "It will take us three day's sailing to get there. We're well away from the Baratie, to the east of the route we would need to have used if we were going from there to Logue Town."

"But technically speaking Conomi's closer to Logue Town than the Baratie?" Luffy asked frowning as he took in the map.

"We are, but as I said were quite a ways off the beaten path," Nami cautioned.

"But even so in total terms you're close."

Nami nodded, and Makino frowned at Luffy before she got it. "There's supposed to be a strong Marine presence in Logue Town isn't there, a commodore from what I found out on the Baratie, though I only found out his rank and name," She said slowly. "There's no way they could have heard rumors of the very least."

"That's part of why we never wanted to go to the Marines. That, and my mother was part of the Marines of course before she ran off after saving me and Nojiko when we were babies. She couldn't do anything to Arlong, so a lot of the townsfolk just sort of figured he was too strong unless we could get some of the big-name Marines to come, but **no** Marines have **ever** come by, not once since Arlong showed up." Nami replied, her voice an alloy of bitterness and grief.

Luffy growled, and the others could hear the wood of the steering wheel crunch under his grip before he pushed himself away, nodding to Makino to take over. They noticed that the two spokes he had gripped had shattered in his hands, but didn't comment. "Right," he growled, "when we get to Logue Town I'm going to have a talk with whoever is in charge there. For now, why don't we just sail straight in and beat the ever-living crap out of this Arlong and his crew? I'm not a big fan of overthinking things."

Nami looked at him for a moment and he groaned, clapping a hand to his forehead. "I can't believe I just gave you that big an opening."

"You did, but I'll be magnanimous and not take it," Nami said poking him in the leg from where she still sat next to the map before going on seriously. "As to what we should do…we should probably go out of our ways slightly to come around the island like this. I'd like to see my sister before we move in on Arlong. The worst thing we could do is to attack Arlong Park, only to find that Arlong was elsewhere at the time."

"That's actually a pretty good point," Luffy allowed nodding his head. "For now though, isn't the wind picking up a little?"

Nami looked up in surprise at Luffy having felt that before she could, but she nodded quickly getting to her feet, pointing a finger up at into the air as she felt the wind's direction. Johnny, Yosaku, Zoro and Makino moved off to take over the sales, while Sanji still knelt down in front of Nami. "Your plans are amazing Nami-swan, a true sign of the brilliance of your mind!"

With that he hopped to his feet, about to race off to help the others, but then paused looking at Luffy. "By the way, where is Ranko-chan?"

"Dealing with a feminine issue," Luffy lied glibly. "Trust me, you do not want to be around her right now."

Sanji almost visibly shivered, thinking of Ranko, who might be as strong as Luffy had proven to be, with that particular issue.

"It's the stuff of nightmares," Luffy supplied without prompting and watched Sanji shot off like a rocket to help the others.

With that Nami and Luffy were left alone on the aft deck, and Nami leaned in nudging him lightly with her shoulder. Part of her wanted to thank Luffy again, but Zoro might have been rude but he was also right. She really wasn't the sort to do the whole weepy emotional thing. So she said the next best thing that came to mind. "By the way, when are you going to tell Sanji about your curse?"

"Probably before we get to Conomi. I want to time it perfectly," Luffy said with a grin that was almost but not quite pure evil.

"I'll have my camera ready," Nami replied with a laugh before she started to bark out orders.

 **OOOOOOO**

"Captain Buggy sir, Lady Alvida ma'am, I don't mean to sound ungrateful or anything," said a sort of wheezing voice. Anyone listening to it would be able to tell the speaker was injured. "But could one of you tell me why we're making for Logue Town, which is known as one of the strongest Marine bases in East Blue!?"

"Simple Usopp, we're looking for a certain band of bounty hunters, a group strong enough that no doubt they'll be making their way to the Grand Line eventually. And the only way to the Grand Line is through Logue Town up Reverse Mountain." Said captain Buggy, before pouring a glass of wine for his companion.

She was a truly beautiful woman, standing about his own height with curves that could have been designed to inflame a man's desires with an unblemished face of an angel, marked only by red lipstick and framed by cascading tresses of black hair. "Agreed, if they'll be anywhere, they'll be there. And we can finally have our revenge." Even the woman's voice was gorgeous, a light alto that almost oozed sensuality.

As the pirate captain who had saved his life and the admittedly drop-dead gorgeous woman who had come in with a suborned former marine ship shared a laugh, Usopp once again wondered if he might have been a little too hasty in his decision to not try to return to his home town. The life at sea was turning out to be a lot more fraught than he had imagined.

 **OOOOOOO**

That night found Sanji making his first full meal on the _Inglorious Bastard_ talking to Makino as she moved around the kitchen helping out. "You really don't have to do this Makino-chan," he said, looking at her with hearts in his eyes, literally. "A woman of your beauty should only sit and let me wait on you hand and foot!"

Fighting to not roll her eyes Makino sighed. Sanji's attitude had been amusing at first, but since he evidently acted like this to every woman he met, it lost a lot of its impact. "You really shouldn't hit on someone who's older than you Sanji."

"Bah, I won't hear it!" Sanji said turning away from the meal he was preparing to grab Makino's hand in his, bringing it to his lips and kissing it gently. "You're not old, you are simply a flower that has reached its most beautiful time of life!"

Again Makino fought not to roll her eyes. "Sanji, what is your dream? Luffy said you had one, but we didn't hear you actually talk about it."

"I want to find a legendary ocean called All Blue," Sanji said seriously, turning back to his meal. "It's a sort of Mecca for chefs where all the fish of every ocean gathers. I think it might be the oceans by Raftel, but no one knows for certain."

"That sounds both ambitious and quite fascinating," Makino replied. _So we have a chef who wants to find the greatest ocean of them all, a swordsman who wants to be the greatest swordsman in the world, Luffy who wants to be the Pirate King, and Nami._ She looked over at Nami, who had just come in, taking a seat at the table they were using for meals, wincing occasionally from a training session with Luffy. _Luffy said Arlong had taken away her dream, but I wonder what it was in the first place._

That had been a part of Nami's story that Luffy hadn't told anyone else, thinking it wasn't his place to do so. Nami had always loved maps and navigation, having become interested in them at an early age and finding that she had a true talent for it. She had dreamed of travelling, going to every island and ocean and making a map of the entire world. But while Arlong had gone out of his way to help her, having seen the talent the girl already had which was beyond any navigator he had ever seen, he had also basically ruined her dream for her, making it seem as if her ability was a curse.

Deciding not to ask just yet, Makino turned back to Sanji. "Hmm, well my dreams a little different. I don't want to become anything or find a place like your All Blue. Instead I want to find a single person: Red-haired Shanks. Have you heard of him?"

Sanji had been smoking and working on dinner at the same time, somehow keeping the ash from his cigarette out of the food which was just as amazing as his actual cooking skills in Makino's mind. Now he choked on his cigarette, gasping and thumping his chest as he turned quickly to look at Makino, his eyes bulging. "Why do you want to find one of the Yonkou!?"

Makino laughed. It was not a nice sound. It was cold, high, and possibly the scariest thing that Sanji had ever heard. Her eyes seemed to become pits of hell, and her fingers turned black, like Luffy's arms had been when fighting Hawkeyes. "It's personal," she said in a voice that reminded Sanji for some reason of the clanking of stones against one another.

However Sanji couldn't stop himself. "If that is what you want my lady, then I will help you gladly," he said vowing quickly, both as part of his routine and so he didn't have to look Makino in the scary, **scary** face any longer. "After all, the cook of a Pirate King should be able to beat up a mere Yonkou shouldn't he?"

Both his listeners laughed at that, and he grinned as Makino returned to normal.

A second later, Sanji looked up from his work putting the finishing touches on dinner as 'Ranko' came in yawning and scratching at her stomach. She was wearing short pants and a loose white shirt which somehow still emphasized her curves, giving her a very sexy girl next door look, if Sanji was any judge. He almost swooned, then did swoon as she moved over to him, leaning over one of his arms and sniffing at the food. "That smells great, I don't suppose I could have some now before you serve everyone else?" she asked.

"Of course my beauty!" Sanji shouted, quickly twirling away and whipping up a plate for her holding it out as if he was presenting it to royalty. "I hope this pleases your delicate palate."

"My palate's not that delicate, but thank you Sanji," 'Ranko' said dryly.

With that she moved over to the table, sitting down, leaning over the table to eat. She didn't seem to notice she was thrusting out chest but Sanji's eyes almost couldn't help but track down to them, ostensibly to pull a bowl of fruit towards her.

Then from beside 'Ranko', Nami splashed her with the cup of hot water that she had been hiding underneath the table since she sat down. "And while you got the flirting thing going on pretty well Sanji," Luffy said as he leaned back up. "I have to tell you you're not my type." The two of them had decided to get this out of the way now last night, figuring that Sanji would suspect something the more he didn't see 'Ranko' around.

For a moment it was as if Sanji had turned to stone, his eyes which had heretofore been hearts as he stared down at 'Ranko's' chest freezing in their bugged out position. Then he seemed to crumble to the side, fainting dead away.

"That was magnificent." Nami said as she put down her camera as she broke out into laughter along with Luffy while Makino giggled from her place across from them.

"I'm here, wait for me!" Zoro said smashing open the door into the training room. He looked down at Sanji's comatose form and cursed before glaring up at Luffy. "God dammit!"

It took them a few moments to revive the cook then about 15 minutes to explain Luffy's curse to the now gently rocking and possibly scarred for life Sanji. He didn't look up from his position on the floor, his arms crossed over his face shaking his head again and again as Luffy explained the curse. The others were silent watching this with various levels of amusement until Luffy fell silent, waiting for Sanji to come back to himself.

He did so slowly, looking up at Luffy with soulful eyes. "Why did you do that to me?! I, I, am so **traumatized** right now! I never ever want to meet the person who did that to you!"

Shakily Sanji got to his feet, moving over to light up another cigarette from the stove taking a long inhalation before blowing it out and shaking himself. "On the other hand," he murmured as if to himself before flinging water into his new captain's face, staring again at Luffy's female form as Luffy irritably white water out of her face. "If you could somehow remove it after you had used it to get to a certain level of experience..."

Sanji didn't finish speaking before Luffy's kick caught in the diaphragm doubling him over. "Pervert! Why the hell would I do that, that's so disturbing on so many levels!" Luffy didn't like this. Sanji had, in that one sentence, turned the disturbed train on him.

Johnny, Yosaku and Nami all looked at him in shock and Nami asked incredulously, "Wait, you mean you haven't taken advantage of that form!?"

"Sure I have," Luffy said cocking her head in confusion. "You saw me just now. I use it to mooch food, hide my identity, and fool people. What else would it be good for?"

"That is kind of disturbing," Nami said shaking his head. "I mean I wouldn't want to be stuck with a guy's body, but I think I'd probably not be able to stop myself experimenting with it."

"Huh? What do you mean?" Luffy asked, still cocking his head, while inside he was rolling his eyes.

Makino did so visibly from where she had finished setting out dinner having taken over that task during Sanji's freak out moment. "I doubt Luffy has ever even done… that… as a guy."

She didn't like to think about it, after all Luffy was her younger brother in many ways. But to the best of her knowledge, Luffy had never really shown an interest in romance or sex or anything of that nature. He understood it, and she had caught him once or twice blushing when he looked at a few girls, so she knew he had a sex drive, but that was about it. It showed a frightening amount of both control and focus to Makino's mind.

"Again, that is somewhat disturbing." Nami replied drolly, looking at Luffy who was still looking at her quizzically.

"Why?" Zoro grunted. "Who has time for that kind of thing when they could be training to get better?"

Everyone else in the room stared at Luffy and Zoro, then looked at one another sharing a thought wondering if abstaining from such activities had anything to do with how scary the two of them were. _All that pent-up frustration…_ Nami wondered. Even she had experimented a few times after hitting puberty, though she had done her best to hide her interest in that direction from Arlong and his crew.

"Let's leave this topic right now," Makino said cheerfully. But there was steel in her tone, and the others all shook their heads and nodded as one sitting down to Sanji's wonderful meal.

The rest of the trip was uneventful for the next two days despite the _Inglorious Bastard_ being its normal fat pig in a washtub occasionally during a brief squall. But the three new hands helped tremendously.

Luffy and the others were amused to find that Sanji still couldn't quite get over the fact that Luffy was able to change, or rather that he wasn't two different people. Whenever he saw Luffy's female form, he would somehow forget that 'Ranko' and Luffy were one and the same, going into his whole flirtatious spiel with her like he did with Makino and Nami for a few seconds before reality reasserted itself in his mind. Luffy had used this twice already to get the same quality of food that the two girls were being given whenever they even mentioned being peckish or whenever Sanji thought they needed to drink something.

It was on the third day that something interesting happened. The crew was sitting down to a meal outside in the bright sunlight, and Sanji was talking to Nami about the fruits available on Conomi when the sea in front of the ship erupted. Out from the depths came… a giant cow.

Luffy blinked then blinked again. "What the hell am I seeing? I mean it's the size of a sea monster, but it looks like a cow."

"It does look strangely tasty," Zoro said, clicking one of his swords in its hilt. He'd replaced the two shattered ones from their armory and eight more since in training with Luffy over the past few days. The two of them and Sanji had trained every chance they could. Nami had in turn begun training with Makino, her and she had activated a rudimentary level of Kami-E but she lacked the hitting power Luffy felt she needed so had to learn how to be more precise.

"That looks like Mohmoo." said Nami, looking up at it and shaking her head. She used to be so terrified of that animal, but the others were taking its arrival in such a blasé manner she just couldn't work up the energy. "It belongs to Arlong, he uses Mohmoo to terrorize the few ships that came to our islands and the coastline occasionally."

"So should we kill it?" Zoro asked looking at the giant beast thoughtfully as it loomed over their ship. It was at least a full story taller than the top of the _Inglorious Bastard_ 's mainmasts or at least the portion sticking out of the water was. "Because I agree with Luffy, that thing looks like steak-to-be to me."

"Morons!" Sanji said, breathing deeply from his cigarette. "Whatever it looks like, it's still a fish, no red meat for you until we get to land. If you wanted some, you should've stolen some from the shitty geezer back on the Baratie."

"Yeah but if we'd done that you would've tried to 'shitty' kill us," Luffy said with a grin at his cook, who smirked back at him before they turned their attention back to the sea monster.

It seemed to have had enough of being ignored at this point and roared like an angry steer, diving down towards him. Its cow mouth opened showing fangs since Sanji was right, whatever it looked like it was still a sea monster, and a meat eater.

"Besides," Sanji said, stepping towards the creature holding out a large plate of seared tuna on a bed of tomato and basil leaves, olives and other things. "It's just hungry."

The beast paused in its attack, sniffing at the food, then opened it maw again, slowly leaning in to take this offering. Just as it was about to take a bite however, Sanji quickly twisted away, his leg rocketing out to slam into the side of the creature's head with enough force to knock it out entirely of the water and into the air, unconscious before it slammed back down, sinking quickly.

"What was that for!?" Nami exclaimed. She had been honestly touched by Sanji being nice to the dumb creature and his attack had caught her and the others completely by surprise.

"It was going to bite me Nami-swan," Sanji said calmly. "I'll feed anyone man or beast but if they're going to try to eat me at the same time as they try my food, that's where I draw the line."

Around them the rest of the crew began to laugh, and Nami groaned shaking her head. "You're going to fit right in with this crew, you're certifiable!"

"And what does that say about you Nami-chan?" Makino asked with a smirk.

"That I've been led astray by good company?" Nami asked batting her eyelashes at the older woman to the general laughter of the rest of the crew.

Leaning back in her chair to stare up into the gorgeous blue sky above them Nami couldn't help but grin. This, she decided hearing the crew all around her laugh and joke with one another, this was the life. _The only thing that would make this better is Arlong already being taken care of, but that will come soon enough,_ Nami thought evilly.

The next day thanks to Nami's navigation skills the large ship skirted around the archipelago for a time well out to sea, too far for any lookout to see before they came back in on the main island from the other side, docking the massive ship at Cocoyashi's small jetty. Surprisingly however there was no one nearby to notice their arrival.

After tying the ship to the quay and dropping both anchors the crew was ready to go ashore with Nami leading the way, Luffy striding beside her. The others came after them quickly save for Johnny and Yosaku who had unanimously been voted into the role of ship guarding duty for the duration of their time with the crew.

As they moved into further into the town they heard a commotion in the distance. Looking at one another they sped up, moving through the small alleys between houses to come to the main thoroughfare through the town where the commotion was taking place. Lots of the locals had gathered there, lining the street from one end to another their faces sad, and looking down or otherwise beaten down.

In the center of the street stood three fish-men, facing an older man with heavy scars crisscrossing his face and for some reason a pinwheel stuck into his hat. Next to him was a large pile of swords and rifles, most of them looking as if they had seen better days but still usable. "Genzo-san?" Nami muttered. "What's going on here?"

"The pinwheel is kind of funny," Luffy muttered, his eyes taking in the scene. "I bet he's great with kids. They don't know whether to be a scared of his face or laugh at it."

"That," Makino paused, one finger raised, before pausing, cocking her head to one side. "That actually isn't a bad strategy."

The group fell silent for a moment, watching, waiting for something to happen. At the same time Luffy reached out with his limited Sensing type Haki, making certain there were no other fish-men around.

As he was trying to do that, one of the fish-men spoke up. "So you admit to hoarding all these weapons?"

"That's right!" said the old man with his arms crossed in front of him as he stared up at them from where he was sitting on the ground in front of what must be his house. "It was all me!"

"You know the penalty for having weapons right?" said one of the other fish-men, laughing. "We're going to have to make an example of you now."

"Do whatever you wish to me!" the older man said. "Simply leave the rest of these folk out of it. I was the one, no one else knew about the weapons."

The three fish-men merely laughed, and Luffy nodded, having determined there weren't any other fish-men nearby and coming fully back to the here and now. "That's about enough I think. Are any of these three important?"

"No," Nami said shaking her head even as she was glaring at the scene from behind the large mass of her fellow villagers. "I bet these three were just sent out to lord it over the locals, or maybe hunt down a rumor if Genzo was really hoarding weapons."

"Sanji, Zoro, one of you to want to do the honors?" Luffy asked, pushing his hat's brim up with one finger as he glared at the fish-faced bullies.

Before he finished speaking Zoro and Sanji both raced forward, with Sanji absentmindedly jumping under some kind of pellet ball shot from a little boy who had just ducked out from underneath several people's legs to take a shot at the fish-men.

The three fish-men turned to the sound of running feet but before they could even speak it was all over. The first one got his head nearly caved in by a kick, the second's chest was sliced badly, his blood spurting everywhere, and the third was both stabbed and kicked.

"That was my kill!" Sanji and Zoro shouted as one, glaring at one another. Then they paused and said again as one "Are you blind, he was clearly dead before you hit him!"

Nami groaned shaking your head. "You know, I realize that you're stronger than Arlong, and I realize that in the great scheme of things the crew that has been dominating our lives for so long isn't really that big a deal, but seriously!" she shouted to the boys. "You're going to argue over kills?!"

The townsfolk watched this in shock, and Nami walked through them, with Luffy beside her. He watched as people made way for her, looking at her in disgust almost as if they wanted to spit on her, but stopped themselves.

The only exception was a blue-haired girl who had grabbed the young boy, pulling him back into the crowd, and Genzo, the old man. The two of them were simply staring at the newcomers and what they had just done. "Nami what, who are these boys!?" The blue haired girl asked.

"Hey sis!" Nami said, hugging the girl, which the other girl returned quickly.

"Oy, less of the boys please," Luffy muttered, shaking his head.

A second later Sanji went into a twirl towards the older girl. "I see now that beauty runs in the family for you are as beautiful as your younger sister madam. Never fear, we are here to save your village from this Arlong character."

"Do you know what you've done!?" Genzo shouted at the boys who had just taken down three of the fish-men and then argued about it. "If those fish-men don't report back, Arlong himself will come and he'll wipe us all out in retaliation!"

"Not if we do unto him first," Luffy said smirking at the older man, though the expression had little humor in it. "We've already promised to do that. Haven't we, Nami?"

Nami grinned, grabbing his arm with one of hers and pulling him over. "Genzo, Nojiko, everyone. This is Monkey D. Luffy and his crew."

Genzo cocked his head as did a few of the older people there. Disgust was still clear on a few faces, but it was slowly clearing, as they realized that Nami wasn't here as part of Arlong's crew, but with an entirely new one. "That name sounds familiar to me…" Genzo muttered.

"Let it sink in," Nami said holding up a hand to Luffy and Makino. "I want to see how long it takes them."

"Considering we actually had to spell it out for you that doesn't seem fair," Luffy said shaking his head.

To his surprise however Genzo got it quickly. "No! You can't be related to… are you a marine? But dressed like that?"

"Wait," Luffy said holding up a hand. "What's wrong with the way I dress?"

"You're a pirate," Nami said simply. "That's what's wrong with the way you dress. And yes, Luffy really is related to Garp, he's Garp's grandson apparently."

"What the hell is the grandson of that hero of the Marines doing being a pirate?!" Genzo said as more than one face in the crowd showed the same amount of astonishment.

Luffy smirked, pulling off his hat and looking down at it for a moment before looking up at the older man, the gleam in his eyes almost making Genzo step back. "Chasing a dream and keeping a promise."

"…I don't know what promise you're thinking of keeping lad, but you've stepped into it here," Genzo said after a moment gesturing down of the bodies. "You might be strong but…"

"He isn't just strong, "Nami interjected waving Genzo into silence. "They're all strong. We're here to free Conomi of Arlong!"

Genzo stared at Nami. Nami, who had suffered the most out of all of them, who had slaved and lied and cheated and turned her back on everyone to play her part while at the same time trying to buy Cocoyashi village so that Arlong wouldn't be able to threaten it any longer. She'd hidden it well, but all of the townsfolk had known about her scheme practically from the get-go. They'd simply seen no other recourse but to go along with it, so cowed by the fish-men were they, so they too had acted out their rolls. Now here she was, saying this.

"Are you telling the truth?" he asked, reaching out to grasp Nami's hand. "Are you really telling the truth? Are you saying **you** are putting your trust in these boys, Nami?"

Nami looked at him, squeezing his hands back as she nodded her head seriously. " **Yes!** "

Genzo licked his lips and looked around at the crowd, who were all looking at him for leadership, confused, worried and yet at the same time hopeful, having seen two of the boys deal with three fish-men like they were not even a threat at all. He was sort of the town mayors/sheriff, and had served as their leader for a long time.

They all looked at him then from him to Nami and then one of them spoke up, the little boy from earlier. "Wait, I thought we were supposed to hate the witch?!"

Nami twitched but her sister laughed, throwing an arm around her. "Did you really think that we all didn't know what you were doing Nami?" she said softly. "Everyone's known for a long while."

At that Nami looked around her in shock, her eyes tearing up as all the villagers nodded as one, smiling at her for the first time in years. Genzo chuckled, laying a hand on her shoulder. "You're a good girl Nami and a good actor, but we've known about the burden you took on. While I'm happy that your friends have decided to try and free us, I also am glad you won't have to bear that weight any longer."

Genzo turned to Luffy seriously, looking at the boy. "But I don't think you know how strong the fish-men really are. We managed to get a word out recently to a marine base and they sent a galleon and a full crew of marines, but the fish-men sunk their ship and killed them all so easily. And even if you could beat the rest of the crew like you did these three, there's Arlong. He's a monster on a whole other level. I can tell by the look in your eye you want to try, but frankly, I'd be happier if you just took Nami and ran…"

He was interrupted at that point both by Luffy laughing coldly and Nami shaking her head furiously. "Not going to happen!"

"She's right. Arlong might be strong and all, but even if he was really a Grand Line level pirate I'd still want to bash his head in because he made Nami cry." Nami flushed as Luffy said that, trying desperately to not let her sister catch her eye.

Luffy was oblivious to this as he went on. "Now, why don't we get this party on the road?"

 **OOOOOOO**

At the same time Luffy and his crew were talking to the villagers, the target of their ire was talking to a Marine captain who looked remarkably like a cross between a mouse and a weasel given human form. "Yes, your information on that galleon coming our ways was spot on, almost as good as Nami's map of the ocean floor. You've earned your money again Nezumi."

"Che che che happy to be of service of course Arlong-san. You scratch my back, I scratch yours. But tell me, why do you want me to confiscate that girl's treasure?"

"Heheh, Nami thinks she's so clever, that her defiance is so well hidden. But she isn't as smart as she thinks she is, especially if she thinks that I would **ever** let her go. She'll keep on working for me for the rest of her life, but that last bit of defiance needs to be crushed. It serves no purpose now, especially since she's been gone so long this time." Arlong laughed. "A cat needs to be broken in a bit so it knows not to wander off."

"Hhmmm, you really are an unpleasant sort aren't you Arlong-san, to so shatter the dreams of freedom of that poor girl che che che," Nezumi said, chuckling his mouse-like chuckle before turning away. "Well, who am I to argue. I will return here with your 80% of the cut after you send word that she's either left again or the coast is clear otherwise."

"Of course take your time, we can't let anyone even here on Conomi realize we have an arrangement. I trust you to give me my share of the money Nezumi when you return. You know what I'll do to you and your 16th branch if you don't." Arlong said, his shark teeth flashing.

Nezumi shuddered but moved off leading a squad of ten marines, heading overland to the small hidden cove where they had anchored their schooner. They couldn't be seen to interact with Arlong and his crew after all.

Halfway there, the back scout came rushing up to Nezumi. "Captain, some people are on the trail heading to Arlong Park. One of them is the orange haired girl the fish-man mentioned."

"Hmm… interesting. We'll have to come back and see what's going on, but for now let's head on to Cocoyashi." Nezumi mused. "Let's go overland for now though, cut through the woods straight there just in case something dangerous is going on…"

 **OOOOOOO**

"That's a big tower, think he's overcompensating for something?" Sanji quipped, before taking a drag from his cigarette, cocking an eyebrow at Luffy and Zoro in possibly the first real moment of solidarity all three of them had shared outside of training since they met.

Luffy laughed from where he had just given Nami his hat to look after as Zoro snorted, wanting to make a quip about that taking someone to know one, but refraining. Nami and Makino giggled before Nami frowned over at Genzo, the doctor and the two other chosen witnesses before looking at her sister. "I understand wanting to see this first hand, but I don't want any of you getting too close, okay? Let those three do the fighting."

"Oy, you're gonna be fighting too Nami," Luffy said looking over his shoulder. When she made to protest he turned to face her, wagging a finger in her face. "Do you really just want to stand there and watch as someone else fights to free you from Arlong?"

That brought Nami up short, and she nodded reluctant agreement. Besides, she was part of this crew too. "Alright, Makino and I will take team one of the officers, there's three of them. If you all can cut down the rest of the crew and handle the last two?"

"Hmm, I would rather have handled the rest of the crew, but alright." Makino nodded agreement, pulling out her handgun and loading it quickly. "Remind me however that we need to start training you further on something beyond that staff of yours Nami-chan. A distant weapon and a hand to hand style I think."

Nami nodded, wondering why everyone in the crew, even she, was simply assuming that she would be joining the crew full time. After all, the whole reason she had even become a thief and even gone to sea was to gather the money needed to buy her village so Arlong couldn't harm them anymore. With him gone, she wouldn't have any reason to keep going, would she?

She remembered all the talk about dreams, when she told Luffy that night she had confessed everything about how she had always dreamed about maps and travelling the world. But she was too old for dreams, right? _But isn't it his dream that's made Luffy so strong?_

Setting that thought aside Nami came back to the here and now only to sweatdrop at the sight of Luffy and Zoro playing rock paper scissors, with Sanji pouting nearby. "Yes!" Zoro hissed before she could ask what they were playing for, holding up his hand formed into scissors, or as he put it twin swords, triumphantly.

Makino leaned in, whispering. "Zoro gets to take out the rest of the crew along with, Hachi was it? The sword using octopus?"

"Yes," Nami said slowly, shaking her head at the idea of playing a silly game like that to decide who they would take on in a fight.

Luffy joined Sanji in pouting but with that sorted out the group made their way towards the large doorway which led into Arlong Park, ignoring the goggling eyes of the four villagers chosen by Genzo to accompany them as witnesses or the snickering Nojiko. The blue skinned girl seemed to have grasped the idea this crew was really strong enough to deal with Arlong far quicker than the rest, and now was just amused at their tension-draining antics.

This was proven a second later as Ranma reared back then punched the doorway, just one to each door. The first flew off its hinges flinging it through into Arlong Park. The second joined it an instant later, slamming into the gathering of fish-men beyond. An even dozen went down, smashed and broken by the wooden and metal doors coming at them at speed.

Sitting in a chair that looked a cross between a thrown and a lounge chair from a hotel sat the fish-man Luffy figured was Arlong. He was a larger than the rest of his crew, though it was hard to tell with him sitting down he looked broader in the shoulders and at least a foot taller than even the tallest of his followers. His skin was blue, with a wide sneering mouth full of shark teeth under a long saw-pointed nose, just like a saw-tooth shark. He wore what Luffy/Ranma thought of as a Hawaiian shirt and shorts, matching the luau-like feel of the rest of Arlong Park's interior and making the dimensional traveler recall a certain crazy principal for a moment.

Shaking that thought off Luffy walked forward as his crew came in behind him, spreading out. Cracking his neck he looked at the gathered fish-men then to the one sitting in the throne. "You Arlong?"

In response Arlong leaned back glaring at the interlopers, his eyes finding Nami quickly. "Who wants to know?"

"Monkey D. Luffy, future Pirate King, and Nami's captain." With that Luffy disappeared from the sight of all save Arlong and Zoro, repairing with his fist smashing with steel shattering force into Arlong's face. "More importantly her friend!"

Arlong found himself lifted up out of his chair and hurled through the air into the far wall of Arlong Park by the force of the blow, his teeth shattering, only his being a fish-men and with superior strength and in particular a jaw stronger than normal Fishmen kept said jaw from joining them. _Damn human! That punch felt like one from one of my former captains!_

"Arlong-san!" Shrieked more than one of his crew, before racing forward to attack Luffy. "How dare you strike Arlong-san like that! Get him!"

They never reached their target. Instead they found a bandana clad swordsmen in their way, holding a sword in each hand and another in his teeth. "Tatsumaki!" Zoro growled around the hilt he was holding in his teeth, twirling in place and sending more than half the Fish-men into the sky with the air cyclone attack, the closest of whom had been cut to ribbons by his blades.

"Damn you, you foolish humans! Chew, grab Nami, she's the one behind all this!" Ordered a fish-man who looked like a cross between a man and a manta ray. "Hachi, deal with the swordsmen! I'll take on this fool before Arlong-san becomes too angry and goes on rampage!"

"How dare you threaten Nami-chan you shitty fish, I'll fillet you!" Shouted the blonde intruder, and the manta-ray grunted, using his arm to block a kick that sent him skidding backwards.

Chew, a fish-men with a mouth that stuck out like no fish Luffy could bring to mind shot out a ball of water from his mouth as fast as bullet towards Nami, but Makino quickly raised her handgun, firing a bullet of her own. The water was intercepted, and Nami raced forward, her staff coming together in her hands.

"Fool girl, you might've convinced this lot to come and die for you but I would've thought you would know that no mere human can stand against one of the superior fish-men race!" Chew bellowed reaching forward to grab Nami. Her maps were after all still valuable, which meant they couldn't kill her like they could her friends.

To his surprise however Nami adroitly dodged, moving around the blow like a piece of paper in the wind. An instant later, her staff found one of his eyes, and he howled in pain. No matter how tough he was getting hit there hurt. "You stupid bitcGAHH!" The next second a bullet from Makino's handgun smacked into his chest, causing him to stumble backwards. It didn't penetrate his superior Fishman skin, but it hurt like all blazes.

As this was going on the last of Arlong's officers had attacked Zoro, trying to stop the swordsmen from cutting his crew to pieces. It was admittedly a little late, since Zoro had by that point added ten more to his tally, while Ranma had taken out five on his slow, methodical tramp towards where Arlong was pulling himself slowly out of the rubble.

Unlike the other fish-men, this one, an octopus type with eight octopus tentacle arms each holding a sword, seemed to be almost enjoying this. "I see, I see, heheheh, you've tried to overcome your natural disadvantage by adding a third sword, but sorry, you can't match my blades in number or in weight! Each of my swords weighs eight hundred pounds, and I have eight of them to your three!"

"You know nothing of the weight of my swords!" Zoro snarled slamming into and smashing the Octopus's blades to either side before nearly cutting at Hachi's body forcing Hachi to back off, blocking his attempt at a headbutt.

The two swordsmen began to exchange blows as Luffy reached Arlong, who had belatedly noticed that the brat who had hit him seemed to know Rokushiki. How else would Nami kami-e have learned it after all. _If he knows some of the others, this could be a tough fight. Best to take it seriously from the get go._ "So what did Nami promise you? Money, her body? I'm curious," he said getting into a fighting stance.

"She's my friend, I'm kicking your ass because you made her cry Arlong, nothing more!" Luffy growled, and disappeared hopping into the air. "Rankyaku!"

Arlong growled, gathering a handful of water into his palm and shooting it out quickly to intersect the air cutter. The two attacks slammed into one another in midair between the two combatants and Arlong turned, his other palm barely intercepting a punch that would have caught him in the ribs. He didn't block the kick which scythed his legs out from under him, but was able to roll away from the heel stomp which cratered the concrete where his head had been.

A return kick was blocked, his foot grabbed and Arlong found himself once again in the air hurled into and through the wall of Arlong Park. Grunting in pain, Arlong snarled, reaching further into the rubble to pull out his massive sword. _Shit this kid is good! Where in the hells did someone this strong come from here in East Blue! Still, he's a mere human and a brat, he'll make a mistake and I will show him the superiority of the Fishman race!_

For his part Luffy was somewhat impressed. Arlong knew about the Rokushiki that was certain, and was able to counter them somewhat. The rest of his crew though either had bought into his 'superior race' Kool-Aid, or were two busy trying to survive to analyze Luffy's crew and their fighting ability. Luffy took a brief moment to look over the fight, noticing that the two girls were having some trouble, but also what they were planning and had to smile before turning back to his own part of the battle as Arlong swung his saw-tooth sword at Luffy.

Chew finally managed to catch Nami's staff. It shattered in his grip but she again she dodged his follow-on punch, though that was fine with him. Instead of trying to attack the witch again Chew dodged to one side, rolling on the ground and sprinting forward, dodging bullets as he went. _Yes, the one with green hair is a pure distance fighter, take her out, then I can join Kuroobi to kill the blond one, he seems to be having the most problems between him and Hachi._

This was true, as Zoro's wounds were starting to catch up with his exertions. Mihawk might not have killed Zoro outright, but he had surely given him a wound that would have killed any normal man within a few hours even with medical aid. Hachi kept on trying to take advantage of this, but couldn't break Zoro's defense to attack his bleeding chest.

Ignoring that for now Chew closed on Makino grinning evilly as she tried desperately to reload her handgun. "Got you now bitch! This'll teach you take on a superior fish-man!"

"How exactly are you superior?" Makino quipped, just as her fist turned black and she thrust forward. The Haki infused punch didn't last very long, indeed you would have had to be looking at her fist to have noticed it at all, but it lasted long enough to catch Chew in the chest, shattering his ribs and hurling him back to land in the water of the small dock that led out into an ocean.

"CHEWW! You bitch I'll kill you!" shouted Kuroobi only to turn around quickly trying to block another blow from his own opponent.

"Don't you dare say such things to the lovely Makino-swan!" Sanji bellowed, just as his kick crunched into Kuroobi's side. "Mutton Shot!"

Kuroobi gasped in agony as he was launched through the air like Arlong had been earlier, though even faster and on a far straighter trajectory. He was already unconscious however before he cleared the rocky outcrop separating the ocean from one side of the dock.

Luffy laughed as he dodged another blow from Arlong's sword, launching his own punch which Arlong dodged under. "And then there were two."

"Damn you!" Arlong shouted, literally seeing red, his eyes going bloodshot. Like a berserker his anger seemed to fuel him somewhat, but Ranma didn't care. He matched his opponent blow for blow his Tekkai up to the task of letting his hands and feet block the saw tooth sword. "You, what've you done to my crew! When I kill you I'm going to enjoy killing your crew one after another!"

Arlong was then forced to clench his teeth as a kick caught his chin flinging him up into the air. Arlong twisted however, slashing down at Luffy before he could follow up, then dropped his sword, jumping back into the water. _I'll show you damn it, I'll show you how powerful we are!_

Luffy's foot shattered the sword halfway up its length and he glared into the water. "Come out little fishy, I'm not done with you yet!"

"Damn it he's really got no fear does he?" Genzo muttered, the first word he or any of the other locals had been able to speak as they watched the fish-men, the titans who had dominated their lives for so long, be utterly destroyed.

"Shark on Dart!" Arlong shouted coming out of the water faster than a bullet, faster than a Rankyaku straight at Luffy, his nose pointing straight at Luffy. It was so fast and so sudden Luffy had no chance but to use his Tekkai to take the blow, and found himself blasted off his feet into the tower behind him slamming into and through the outer wall on the second story of the building.

"Luffy!" Nami shouted worriedly making to rush forward, but Sanji stepped in her way. Before he could speak a sudden shout from nearby took their attention, and they turned to see Zoro slicing Hachi down, the octopus' swords shattered along with Zoro's own.

Makino reached the swordsman before he could fall, his clothing and the bandages underneath soaked with so much blood it looked like he had been sprayed by a fountain. Catching him she gently lowered the heftier Zoro to the ground as she quickly turned her head, shouting, "Is there a doctor here!? He needs help!"

The others quickly moved to join the downed swordsman, though Nami kept on glancing to the tower, where the sounds of battle could still be heard. _Please be all right Luffy!_ It didn't occur to Nami then, nor would it for some time, but at that moment she hadn't thought about what would happen to her, or even her sister and fellow villagers. Her concern had all been for the young man who had held out his hand to her in friendship regardless of her harsh words to him or her lies.

Inside the tower Luffy had been slammed into a few interior walls before he could bring himself to a stop, somehow flipping himself up and over Arlong's body. Arlong tried to reach for him, astonished the boy's Tekkai had been able to sustain his Shark on Dart attack. Arlong's nose had only cut into his chest slightly instead of skewering him.

His attempt to grab Luffy failed and a punch from Luffy slammed Arlong into the floor of the room they had found themselves in. Arlong rolled away once more then turning like a spring to bring up an uppercut but Luffy had jumped away, putting some distance between them.

Luffy looked around them, frowning as he noticed maps everywhere. Maps covered the walls, maps were stacked against every wall, hanging from ropes here and there. There was a drying table to one side, another desk along the outer wall under a tiny window with an empty lamp and stacks of maps or blank parchment and a thick, blood soaked quill, the kind a young child would use. "What, what is all this…" Luffy muttered, his voice low as he picked up the pen.

"Heh, this is Nami's precious map room! Hahahah, you know it too don't you?" Arlong said with a laugh as he stood up wiping the bit of blood he'd gotten on his nose from his attempt to skewer Ranma off. "That girl, her skill at mapping is phenomenal. With her maps of the sea routes and the ocean floors I will be able to conquer all of East Blue soon. Her skill is necessary for my ambition! That's why I'll never let her go, I'll keep her here like a pet, keep using her for the rest of her life!"

" **USE?!** " Luffy growled, the quill not so much shattering as crumbling in his grip as he turned, and the look in his eyes made Arlong back up for a brief moment. That was why he was completely caught off guard as Luffy lashed out smashing the desk into and out through the outer wall behind it.

"Rankyaku!" Luffy shouted, and several of the air cutter attacks lashed out, not at Arlong who had quickly prepared himself to dodge, but at the piles of maps all around them.

"Wha-stop it! What the hell are you doing!?" Arlong shouted rushing forward, trying to land a punch on Luffy, who dodged around him, lashing out with kicks and punches still attacking the room around them. "Stop it, my maps and my ambition!"

"I'm destroying this room you bastard!" Luffy roared back, even as he dodged Arlong's attacks. "This room, where you twisted Nami's dreams into a nightmare!"

As Arlong screamed wordless fury and tried to close once more this activity was noticed by most of the onlookers. "Paper?" one man muttered, staring at the odd rain of debris, which thanks to Luffy's Rankyaku looked more like confetti than actual pieces of parchment.

Only Nami realized the significance of this, and she turned from looking at Zoro to look at where her desk had landed and shattered. She had hated that desk, where she had been forced to slave under Arlong to make the bastard his maps, first learning then making her own. She had been punished for every mistake and left to cry herself to sleep at more often than not in her younger years.

She stared up at the tower, and knew what Luffy was doing and why. Tears began to show in her eyes, and she brought a hand up to wipe them away, shaking her head. _Luffy, thank you!_

Inside with the destruction of all the maps complete Luffy had stopped running from Arlong's attacks, catching the fish-man's fist in his own and delivering a kick that cracked a few of Arlong's ribs. Arlong grunted in agony but lunged forward, his maw gapping as he tried to bring his bite into play.

"Tekkai!" Luffy stated simply, and Arlong found his teeth unable to sink in. Before Arlong could pull back Luffy smashed his knee up into Arlong's already broken ribs, causing even more damage and lifting Arlong off the floor into the air, where a punch to the chin launched Arlong up and through the roof of the room and the third level of Arlong Park above them out into the air.

Arlong righted himself, flipping around in midair as he howled, his mouth full of blood from internal bleeding. "DAMN YOU!" he roared. "I won't be beaten, not like this, not from some no name human pirate!"

"I wasn't here to beat you Arlong, I was here to break you." Luffy voice said from above Arlong, where he had used Geppo to get above the Fishman. Before Arlong could turn Ranma brought his clenched fists down in a hammer blow to his spine, the fists glowing black with Haki for the first time in this fight.

"GAHHHHH!" There was an audible crunching sound as Arlong's spine was shattered, and he screamed in agony as his broken body was hurled downward to slam into and through the building to land among its foundations. So strong was the impact that the building, already badly weakened from the number of Rankyakus and other damage that Luffy had already done, collapsed with a roaring boom around its master, burying his shattered form in its depths.

"Is, is this a dream?" Nojiko breathed, shaking her head where she had raced forward with the doctor to help Zoro out. "I mean, I thought they were strong, Nami wouldn't have put so much trust in them if they weren't, but this is…"

"Arlong, Arlong Park, it's fallen." Said the doctor, shaking his head before bending down to his work as Zoro, who somehow was awake, tried to push his hands away and stand up to see.

Luffy landed next to Nami, smirking at her as he gestured over his shoulder to the ruins with a thumb. "Shoddy construction, huh Nami?"

Nami giggled wetly, shaking her head as she placed Luffy's hat back on his head, fighting the urge to hug him in front of so many witnesses. "Luffy, thank you!"

"That's what friends are for Nami." Luffy said, his smirk becoming softer, causing Nami to blush. "Especially crew yeah?"

Before Nami could reply a nasally voice interrupted them from the ruins of the entrance to the park. "Che che, I think I might have to thank you for this, pirates. Who ever thought Arlong could be beaten like this? Still, that's fine by me."

Everyone there turned to stare at a large squad of marines, who had somehow snuck up on them while they were all busy watching the fight or tending to Zoro. In their lead was a small, mousy man who, in Luffy's opinion, looked like someone had tried to create a mouse/human hybrid for some no doubt disturbing reason.

The man seemed to have an ego many times his body size however, or simply an inability to discern reality because not only had he interrupted the moment, but he seemed to think he could issue declarations. "Everyone here, both Arlong pirates and you lot are under arrest by Marine captain Nezumi! Surrender!"

Whatever reaction he was expecting he did not get it. Zoro weakly pushed to his feet to one side as Sanji turned from where he had been busy tying up the merely injured among the fish-men, taking a long drag on his cigarette as he did so. Makino stood up from where she had been working on Zoro with the doctor, pulling her hair behind her head once more as her normally kind eyes narrowed angrily. Nami just stared, her face so deadpan it could have been used as a dictionary example of the term.

As for Luffy he just laughed a bright merry chuckle that reverberated all around the park. "What kind of pirate would ever listen to a marine, especially a weak little rat face fucker like you?" He asked between chuckles shaking his head before looking over at Sanji as Nezumi spluttered and the marines behind him raised their rifles to their shoulders.

"Hey Sanji?" When Sanji looked at him, his one visible, oh-so curly eyebrow cocked in query, Luffy went on, gesturing to the marines with a wave of his hand. "Consolation prize."

Sanji grinned getting it as did Nojiko and Makino though Nami and Zoro were a little slower on the uptake. By the time they figured it out Sanji had already rocketed forward, landing in among the marines. His feet lashed out, smashing them to and fro like ninepins before they could bring their rifles to bear. Another kick sent Nezumi flying forward to land at Nami's feet.

A second later, he twirled through the debris of the marine squad, before going to his knees in front of Nami, one hand to his chest the other raised to one side as he bowed grandly. "Nami-chan, I have dealt with the interlopers as you can see!"

"Hmm, good work Sanji-kun." Nami said, about to reach down to give Nezumi a piece of her mind, such as 'why the hell he was there' where were the marines most of her life, that kind of thing.

But before she could, a few of the villagers they had left behind raced in. Or they had started racing, they had slowed to a stumbling, shocked stumble at the sight of Arlong Park. One of them however shook his shock off quickly, pointing at Nami. "Nami! That marine, he, he dug up yours and Nojiko's tangerine grove and he found your money!"

"HE WHAT!? Nami roared her foot suddenly slamming into Nezumi's face hurling him backwards just as he had begun to mumble some dire threat or other. She grabbed him, choking the life out of the asshole. "Where's my money you!?" Nearby Nojiko had much the same reaction, only for Genzo to restrain her as the crew looked on with various stages of amusement.

Luffy let Nami's throttling of Nezumi go on for a bit before stepping in to stop Nami from killing him. "I don't think ya want to add murder to your personal rap sheet Nami, besides, if you kill him who's going to tell us where he hid your money?"

Dropping the now bleeding bruised wreck to the ground, Nami nodded, glaring down at him. "Good point Luffy. So spill Nezumi, where's your ship docked!?"

It took Sanji, Nami and Nojiko barely an hour to find and loot Nezumi's ship. Zoro was forcibly taken back to the clinic by the doctor and Makino while Luffy and the villagers gathered the downed marines, dumping them on a rowboat from Arlong Park while he and the villagers took the merely wounded fish-men, to the marine's ship, a schooner, as well. Despite having no desire to kill them, they were still pirates and had still taken part in terrorizing the people of the Conami Islands, so he had even less desire to let them remain free.

He also dumped the bodies of Arlong and his officers on the ship, though he was surprised to find that Hachi at least was still alive. The others weren't. Chew had, ironically, drowned, his ribs and gills mangled. Kuroobi was dead, his neck broken from Sanji's kick. Arlong was also of course dead, his spine shattered along with numerous internal wounds and having been buried even for so short a time had seen to that.

By the time Luffy returned to Cocoyashi, the villagers had all gathered once more, and a party was in full swing. He laughed, shaking his head and racing forward to join the merriment followed by his helpers.

 **OOOOOOO**

A few moments after everyone had left Arlong Park for the last time Nezumi and his marines regained consciousness. Making their way back to their schooner took the battered group a while, and by the time they did, Luffy and everyone else had come and gone. The bodies of the fish-men stacked on deck and the wounded ones placed in the ship's small limited brig shocked all of them, but Nezumi had no eyes for any of this beyond Arlong's body and his own wounds.

He raced down into the ship's com room, he grabbed up the ship's one Den Den Mushi, which linked him to the nearest base. "Hello, Hello, base, base, anyone there, this is captain Nezumi, I have a new pirate to report that needs a bounty!"

"This is base ten," said a calmer voice on the other hand, his tone almost dismissive. "Captain Nezumi, what is this all about? You were supposed to be looking into rumors about Arlong being somewhere in East Blue."

"I, I found him, he was here, but this new pirate, he, he killed Arlong then attacked me and my crew when we tried to apprehend him! We were able to retreat and come back later and round up the wounded fish-men, and their dead though!" Nezumi said, lying as easily as breathing. "This new pirate, Monkey D. Luffy, he knows Haki!"

"What!?" the other voice barked, losing its calm tone. "Are you certain!?"

Nezumi nodded before answering verbally since of course the man on the other end of the line wasn't here. He and his men had arrived in time to see the final blow Luffy had landed on Arlong, though they had missed the fight up to that point. Nezumi had heard of haki through the marine rumor mill and had known that the black covering Luffy's hands, visible even from outside the park, were a sign of Busoshoku Haki.

"Yes, he knows at least Armor Haki, it's how he beat Arlong!" Nezumi replied, before going on to the most important part in his mind. "And, and he's not afraid of marines, he attacked us, badly wounding my crew and I!"

"Rumors have already been going around about this same Luffy having destroyed the Krieg pirates too. The only one of that sorry lot still at large is Gin, the sub commander. He killed Krieg too." The man on the other end murmured. "Very well Nezumi, can you tell me anything about his crew, and did you have the opportunity to take any pictures?"

 **OOOOOOO**

Back on the island the party had reached full tilt. Sanji proved immensely popular, surrounded by several of the local ladies, with even the two bounty brothers joyfully taking in some of the reflected limelight despite not having been involved in the battle. Luffy was having fun too, drinking and talking and eating as he moved through the crowd, smiling and happy as he talked to Makino about where they would from here while being on the lookout for Nami.

Realizing he also couldn't spot his first mate, Luffy moved over to the small house where the doctor ran his practice. "Geeze, I just can't understand how you thought you should be moving let alone fighting like this."

"Bah, just slap some stiches on it, I'll be fine." Zoro said.

Sticking his head through the doctor's window Luffy smirked down at him. "Yo Zoro, have you seen Nami around?"

"No, haven't seen the witch since we all separated back at… what was the name again Arbong something?"

"Call it Overcompensation Tower, Sanji had that spot on." Luffy replied, causing Zoro to chuckle.

"You two are insane," the doctor said dryly. "Still, Nami wouldn't have trusted you if you weren't strong at the same time. Still, you lot set out to see without a doctor? That's not just insane, it goes past insane to the suicidally moronic."

"Hmm, that's a point. I don't suppose you know any young doctors with a dream to be the best around here do you?" Luffy asked, only half-whimsically.

"The best?" Zoro grunted as the doctor worked on redoing some of his stiches. Makino and the others had done their best, but none of them were doctors, and they had barely been able to use staples to try and close the wound.

"You have to have a dream to the best or at least a dream on the same level if you're going to be part of the crew of the future Pirate King," Luffy said simply. "Just like you, nah first mate?"

Zoro laughed, raising his fist to bump it against Luffy's before his captain turned away.

 **OOOOOOO**

Nami wasn't the only one currently missing from the party. Nojiko and Genzo were also missing, having come to find her where they knew she would be, Bellemere's grave. It was a simple wooden cross and stone brick stuck on the edge of a cliff overlooking the ocean, but Nami always came here whenever she returned to Cocoyashi and Nojiko always took care of the little stone brick on which their mother's name was carved into.

The three of them were silent, standing, or in Nami's case sitting by the grave and looking at it as they remembered the vibrant, loving woman who was buried under it. Nami broke the silence. "Hey Nojiko, Genzo, if I said I wanted to run away to be a pirate, do you think Bellemere-san would've stopped me?"

Genzo opened his mouth to say of course she would have but Nojiko cut him off, laughing. "Hah, she'd say that's fine as long as you stay true to yourself. Besides, even if she did say something, would that stop you?"

"Absolutely not!" Nami said, poking her tongue out at the grave as the two girls shared a laugh and Genzo shook his head resignedly, setting his pinwheel to spin gently.

They all looked up as Luffy walked out of the darkness around them. He took in the scene before walking forward to join them, quickly sweeping his hat off holding it to his chest as he bowed to the grave. Nojiko smiled at him, patting the younger boy's shoulder gently before walking off, intent on leaving her sister and her captain alone for a moment.

Genzo moved to follow only to stop, reaching out a hand to grab that same shoulder. Luffy looked up at him, his other hand still holding his hat to his chest. "I know Nami's going to go with you, I know I can't stop her. But boy, promise me she won't cry again, she won't be hurt again!"

Luffy met the scarred man's gaze steadily. "I can't promise she won't be hurt or that something else won't make her cry if she's part of my crew. The world's not that kind. But I can promise **I** won't hurt her or that she will ever cry because of me." Luffy promised then smirked. "Well, outside of training anyway."

Giggling Nami got to her feet, pushing Genzo past Luffy before coming back to stand beside him. Luffy continued to look at the grave which marked Nami's adoptive mother, having been told about the woman when Nami had confessed to him and asked for his help. "My grandpa would have loved her I think." He said absentmindedly as Nami rejoined him. "She sounds like his kind of marine."

"From what you've told me, maybe, right up until she heard about the way he was training you. Then they'd have had problems," Nami replied, and the two laughed. For some reason Nami went on from there, telling Luffy more about the redoubtable woman who had taken her and Nojiko in when she had found them in a town wrecked by a battle between pirates and marines.

Luffy listened, laughing and asking questions when appropriate. They stayed there for a while like that, until Nami ran out of stories to tell. Luffy then smiled at her. "Heh, you know, Genzo said you wanted to leave with us, but we might as well make this official yeah? So Nami, will you be my navigator?"

"Hai captain!" Nami replied grinning at him, then feeling somewhat daring leaned up to kiss him lightly on the lips before grabbing the now flushed Luffy's hand. "Come on, let's get back to the party!"

The next day found Luffy and the others once more aboard the _Bastard_. Johnny and Yosaku had already made their farewells after the party had ended. Both of them had their own journey to get back to, and had never been part of the crew officially anyway. They were somewhat sad to leave their aniki, but realized trying to follow him to the Grand Line was foolish in the extreme. They would simply be burdens with their skills, and honestly had no desire to head to the Grand Line in the first place.

"Oh shitty straw hat, are you certain Nami-chan's leaving with us!? Without her here I lose 50% of my reason for being here you know!" Sanji shouted angrily, from where he and Luffy had just finished transplanting seven of Nami and Nojiko's tangerine trees, which the two had been ordered to do earlier that morning by the girl in question. "I'd have to force you to stay in female form for half of every day to make up for it!"

Luffy smirked, then splashed himself with some water from a cup of water he'd grabbed to wash out the remnants of the beer he'd drunk with everyone the night before. "Force Sanji-san?" she asked pouting and putting her hands together below her chest. "You wouldn't do that to me would you?"

"OF course not my beautiful flower!" Sanji said before he could stop himself, then he cursed, almost gagging and swallowing his cigarette as he realized what Luffy had just done. "GAAAHHH!"

"Hehe, this is going to be fun." Luffy said shaking her head, ignoring the shocked exclamations from the large crowd which had come to see them off, including Nojiko and Genzo.

She then turned as Nami's voice reached them, shouting, "Set sail!"

"You heard the lady, let's get this _Bastard_ ready to go." Luffy said, before Zoro and she went to work on the sails while Makino and Sanji pulled up the two anchors. With that done Zoro and Luffy went to work using the oars to slowly push the large ship away from shore.

Even so they still saw Nami racing through the crowd, not responding to their shouts trying to make her stop or to say goodbye in a more normal manner. She jumped the intervening distance, grabbing onto and flipping herself over the side of the ship to land while wallets began to fall out from under her shirt.

While the crowd began to frantically check their pockets, Nami pulled out beli note and kissed it, before looking over the side. "Ja-ne everyone!"

"Damn you brat, you better come back!" was the general consensus as Sanji rejoiced and Luffy and Zoro laughed, still rowing the large ship further away from the docks.

Nami spent a few minutes shouting goodbyes particularly to her sister. They had talked, but Nojiko didn't have the wanderlust Nami had, and someone had to watch the rest of Bellemere's trees.

As the wind finally began to push the ship along rather than their oars Luffy and Zoro set the oars aside and Luffy cocked her head at Nami, scratching under her straw hat for a moment. "You sure that's the way you want to leave?"

"Hehehe, yeah, that's just about the best way I can think of." Nami chuckled, staring up at the sky as she tested the wind before moving to the tiller, bumping her hip against the boy-turned-girl. "So **captain** , where to now?"

Luffy looked around at the others who all nodded at her. "Set course for Logue Town navigator. We'll see if we can sell the _Bastard_ there, if not we'll just ditch it and find a smaller ship. No way could the five of us alone sail this big _Bastard_ in the weather we'll run into on the Grand Line."

"Hai~~!" Nami chirped as the rest of the crew cheered.

 **OOOOOOO**

A day later found them on the open ocean making their way to their new destination. The wind was just enough to move the ship, and Zoro was up in the crow's nest, ostensibly on watch, though he was also lifting weights at the same time, still getting in some more exercise even after training all morning with Luffy in an attempt to help him with his air pressure attack. Luffy had spent the morning bouncing around the ocean as a target for him until Zoro got too tired to lift even one sword let alone all three.

Now however while Sanji was busy in the galley, the two natural girls and Luffy in his/her female form were laid out in the sun. Luffy was in her regular clothing, wanting to get dry after having been splashed earlier. and the aquatranssexual couldn't deny the sun felt really good on her skin.

Beside her Nami stirred, rolling over onto her back, pulling her glasses down to stare at the one piece bathing suit the redhead was wearing. "First chance I get I am taking you shopping Luffy, you've got a decent body, you need to start dressing to show it off more."

"Blech, I do that when I have to Nami, the rest of the time I'd rather dress down then dress to impress y'know." Luffy laughed, sticking out his tongue and making a disgusted face.

Makino sighed, turning on her back as well to look over Luffy's body to Nami. "Don't bother Nami-chan, I've tried before, Luffy has no concept of feminine vanity."

"Che, seems a waste. But then if that's the case, I don't see why you're so willing to use it at all."

"Free eats is free eats Nami-chan," Luffy replied chirpily, winking at her.

The other girl rolled her eyes at the wink while also flushing at the -chan there before resolutely turning to Makino. "Still that disguise you came up with is pretty good Makino, if we ever have to sneak around I'd vote for putting you in charge in a heartbeat."

Nami and Makino both nearly jumped as Sanji banged his way out of the galley, carrying a tray of tall fruity drinks. "Ladies, I have prepared a most succulent treat for you all! I hope you like this, my cold tangerine soda."

"Thank you Sanji-kun," Nami replied, taking one as did the others, amused by how Sanji couldn't stop himself from treating Luffy like a normal girl when he was using this form.

Luffy had stood up, moving to the side of the ship, only to pause, frowning. "Hey which of us has a newspaper prescription?"

"Oh that's mine!" Nami said sitting up quickly and waving the messenger gull down. She scowled at the amount of beli written on the thing's change box. "Hey, hasn't the price gone up again, what's up with that? This is highway robbery."

"Why should you care about that Nami-chan?" Makino asked, passing the gull a beli while Nami scowled. "I would think that the news is important enough, and you don't have a reason to hoard…. Oh."

"Heh, yep, seems our Nami's a regular old Grinch when it comes to money." Luffy said, poking Nami in the shoulder. "That's why she's **not** our bursar."

"Tch, whatever just give me the paper." Nami spent a few minutes reading the paper, pointedly ignoring Luffy's smirk at her expense before she nearly shrieked. "What, so soon!?"

Luffy looked at her quizzically, and Nami shook the paper at her. "Bounties, bounties for you, Sanji, and Zoro!"

"Awesome!" Luffy said quickly sitting up, as Zoro hopped down from the crow's nest. Luffy shouted for Sanji to join them and the three boys crowded around.

Zoro already had a picture from a previous bounty he had gotten during his time as a bounty hunter, but it had been small, only 6,000. The only thing that had changed on his bounty was the amount, which had rocketed up to 30,000,000. "Huh, nice for a start I suppose."

The other two men hadn't had their pictures taken, instead they had drawings. Luffy's showed his face as this narrow sort of foxlike face, with the correct color hair though they missed his pigtail, concentrating instead on his straw hat and his wide, dangerous looking smile. "Straw hat Luffy? Gah, really, so if I take my hat off I'm no longer wanted? That'd be hilarious, though I can't argue with the amount." Luffy's bounty was 65,000,000.

"Black, black leg Sanji huh… that, that's alright but what, what the hell is wrong with this picture huh!?" Sanji too didn't have a photo, instead he had a picture, a horribly drawn picture. His amount was 15,000,000

"I'd say it's a work of art ero-cook." Zoro said, chuckling. "Then again, maybe if you raise your bounty up to my level you might warrant an actual photo?"

"GAH! What the hell, why'd the Aho-swordsman get a better bounty he was freaking sleeping when the shitty marines showed up, I was the one who beat the shit out of them! I'm going to find a way to complain see if I don't!" Sanji shouted, before pointing a finger at Zoro. "And don't get cocky marimo, I'll catch up and pass you soon enough!"

Luffy laughed again, shaking his head. "Well, our lives as pirates have really started now!"

 **End Chapter**

* * *

I had honestly wanted to get through the Logue Town scenes too in this chapter, but I decided they were coming out a little too rushed, and frankly too similar to canon. Given the changes I've already made and the fact Raffy isn't canon Luffy that just wasn't going to happen. Anyway, hope you liked this chapter!


	6. Chapter 6

As I said, this is the first of a few chapters in this story you'll be seeing over the next week or so. We'll see how fast I can beta-read them, but RL has been irritating. This has been betaed by Michael, Hiryo and myself.

* * *

 **Chapter 6: Where There's Smoke, There's Irritation**

Within East Blue was an island. It was larger than most, but not overly important on its own. Rather it was what was based on that island which was important. For on this island was the headquarters of the East Blue branch of the Marines, a massive tower of white with the marine banner flying high above it.

At the top of this tower was a room paneled in wood, with banners of each branch of the marines operating in East Blue on the walls. At the front of the long room was a massive banner with the phrase, 'Absolute Justice,' written on it in large letters. In front of this banner was a long table, around which currently sat the commodores and captains that together made up the leadership of the marines in East Blue, sharing cups of sake. Only a few of these men, the strongest and longest serving, had been trained at the central branch, but even so they were more than enough to keep order in this ocean. Most of the time, anyway.

"Hmmf. It's a damn travesty, that is what it is, Arlong and Krieg both taken out by another pirate! Admittedly with Arlong our hands were somewhat tied, but still Krieg and his armada attacked marines just as often as civilians with his damn dirty tricks. It should have been us who brought the so-called pirate admiral to heel," Groused one officer, a past middle-aged man with a scar running down one side of his face.

"True, but it wasn't. We need to deal with the here and now hence the bounties on this new pirate crew. I'd like to hear the reasoning behind the size of those bounties however," said another man. His words were directed to a tall man with tanned skin who was currently wearing glasses, despite being inside, with a captain's cloak and rank tabs.

"Hai. Then with your permission?" the man replied, standing up and looking at his superiors and equals. They all nodded and he moved around the table, directing their attention to the bounties in question as he pulled back a few of the banners. The bounty pictures were on the wall behind the banners, larger than normal so both the pictures/photos and bounty amounts were visible to everyone in the room.

"First of all, we did not go by Captain Nezumi's words alone when we posted these bounties. His report started us looking into it, and it was only after we did so that we discovered that the same pirate who killed Arlong had also killed Don Krieg. Why, or rather how the Great Schemer Gin escaped we don't know, but we are willing to think it was a mistake or oversight rather than part of some long term plot."

The captains all around nodded and the man in question went on. "From the report on Krieg's death, we learned the Pirate Hunter Zoro had dueled Hawk Eyes Mihawk. Questioning the prisoners we took off the Baratie's hands we learned that Roronoa had somehow earned Mihawk's respect and had joined this pirate crew, hence raising his bounty to the amount shown here."

The man in glasses stopped speaking for a moment, letting the other captain's talk amongst themselves at that. A swordsman earning Mihawk's respect in this, the weakest of oceans, was practically unheard of. Any crew he joined would be one to watch, though more than one there wondered about why a renowned bounty hunter, one who had earned the name 'Pirate Hunter,' had become a pirate himself.

When the murmuring died down the man went on. "From there, we then went back to Nezumi's reports on what happened to Arlong. We have all known about Arlong, though of course we had to hide our agreement with the Knight of the Sea to leave him alone from the lower rankers, hence Nezumi's mission and a few others sent into that area. The loss of a marine crew here or there was seen as acceptable to keep Jinbei on the side of the World Government."

Many of the captains had to grit their teeth at that, but the man went on unhurriedly. "Needless to say, Arlong's death will need to be forwarded to Jinbei, and while we will take credit for it in East Blue, no onus can be placed on us for breaking the agreement."

"At any rate, from there we learned that this one"—Glasses gestured to the first of the drawn pictures—"was the one who assaulted Nezumi and his men." He coughed delicately. "We had to resort to questions along the pirates' route to put together a portrait of this pirate. His name is apparently Sanji, no last name known. The chefs at the Baratie were of particular help putting his portrait together do to some sort of long-standing grudge. Despite his assault on Nezumi however, he seems to be of less importance than Zoro or this new crew's captain."

"The haki user," One of his listeners, a captain, growled. "I presume the report on that was substantiated?" The man in glasses nodded, and everyone around the table scowled. "Then the amount for this Straw Hat Luffy makes perfect sense. Still, three new powers rising in East Blue, all at the same time?"

"Three? I would not count the one called Sanji as a power himself," the man in glasses cautioned.

"I wasn't talking about Black Leg Sanji. I was talking about the bounty huntress Ranko."

"Ah, Red-haired Ranko." The man in glasses nodded understanding.

"According to the last report we have from base 17, Ranko hates that title saying it links her to Yonkou Shanks. So we've stopped using it," another man said almost absentmindedly, scratching at his chin as he thought. "Hmmm… I wonder if we could somehow find Ranko and send her after this pirate crew. A user of the Rokushiki against a Busoshoku user? It would be an interesting battle certainly."

His eyes hardened and he looked around the table. "On a similar topic, what are we going to do about Buggy's rampage? Wiping out an entire base of marines and a few helpless civilians cannot be overlooked."

"Agreed. I have to say that from their apparent skill level Monkey D. Luffy should be worth more, but this Luffy hasn't killed any marines, and Buggy, as you say, apparently massacred an entire base. So regardless of his previous below-the-radar acts, we feel he has earned the 75,000,000 shown here." The man in glasses replied.

Somewhere else in the wide ocean of East Blue, a certain clown felt as if someone had just walked over his grave.

"We must stop these pirates in their tracks **now** before they become any more of a threat to the world," said a man who sat at the head of the long table. He wore the cloak and rank tabs of a commodore, and was somewhat broader across the shoulders than any of the others. "We must stop them now, for **absolute justice**!"

 **OOOOOOO**

The day after the crew found out about their bounties via seagull, Luffy rounded up the crew for a long overdue discussion. They all sat around him near the tiller, as Makino manned said object. Luffy looked around at the others, his lips quirking slightly. "Alright, I know I've been saying for a while that I would talk about something called Haki, and I figure now's as good a time as any. I called it manifest will once after I had my…episode after Mihawk put Zoro out of commission."

"I've been wondering about this for a while. You said my ability with Kami-E might lead into one type of Haki, and then you mentioned two names for your own abilities. Busoshoku and Haoshoku." Nami said, her eyes narrowed.

"In simplest terms, Haki of all types is will made manifest: bringing out your life force, your will, to effect your physical body and the world around you," Luffy began.

"Oh my God captain! You're sounding like an actual teacher instead of just shouting 'Dodge!'" Nami exclaimed, shaking her head before becoming serious. "Okay, and there are three types right? Can anyone learn them?"

"No, only two types can be learned, though only if you have enough willpower to begin with, and even then your ability in them will vary wildly. For instance, my skill at sensing Haki, which I think you'll be a natural at, Nami, is somewhat limited. I'll leave Makino to explain that. I, however, can use Armor, Busoshoku haki, very well."

Luffy held up his hand, and suddenly it was coated in a shiny black substance. "Zoro, slash at my arm the strongest you can. But not with your white blade, with one of your disposable ones."

"Heh, disposable swords. I really need to upgrade," Zoro muttered, before standing up and pulling out one of his, as Luffy said, disposable swords.

"You're going through those so fast even if you don't find upgrades you might want to buy a bushel of them," Makino remarked. "That's your fifth set since we left Conami behind, isn't it?"

Zoro grunted in the affirmative before slashing forward, his sword a blur to everyone there but Luffy, a booming sound crashing out an instant later. Zoro had put enough strength into that blow to cut deep into the wood of the ship.

But instead of cutting through Luffy's arm and continuing on, a sharp retort of shattered steel was heard and Zoro let go of the hilt of his blade with one hand to catch a sliver of metal as Nami dodged a few more and Makino did the same, while Sanji kicked one sliver away. "Wow Zoro, you really didn't hold back!" Luffy laughed.

Zoro chuckled too, but then Sanji was in his face. "Oy, shitty marimo! What would you've done if those slivers had hit Nami-swan or Makino-chan, ehhhh!? How much of your blood do you think I'd have to extract to make up for your marring their perfect forms, ehhhh!?"

"Sanji-kun, focus please?" Nami said sweetly, though her teeth were showing almost as if she was as much a shark as the corpse formerly named Arlong. As Sanji backed away from Zoro she turned to Luffy. "So Armor haki does just that. Can it be overcome?"

"Usually only by someone wielding Busoshoku of his own, or if the attack is strong enough to overcome the user's ability in it. You can armor weapons just as well as your arm, if you have a…spiritual connection, I suppose you can put it, to the weapons in question. I would wager Zoro could eventually figure out how to do it with that white blade of his, but the others, not so much…" Luffy laughed, as did Zoro. Both of them knew that he did have a connection to the white blade, the symbol of his promise to Kuina, but the others were about as worthless as bars of iron.

"Hmm… How long do you think it would take us to learn this?" Sanji asked, drawing on his cigarette and letting out a calming breath.

"No clue," Luffy replied bluntly. "I learned it over the course of a few years, but I didn't have an actual trainer worth the name during that time, just the vauge idea it existed and seeing it in action once. However, learning the Rokushiki is a major step in the right direction to Busohshoku and Sense, or Kenbunshoku, Haki."

"Kami-E and Soru for Kenbunshoku, Tekkai for Busoshoku?" Nami guessed, narrowing her eyes. "Okay, then what about that pressure thing?" She shuddered slightly remembering the odd force that Luffy had let loose, the amount of power he contained within him. It was comforting now to know he had such power under control and ready to wield if need be, but at the time it had been eye opening, to say the least.

"The King's disposition: Haoshoku. That type can't be learned, though you can build up an immunity to it if your will is strong enough," Luffy said with a grim nod. "It's only found in select individuals, though how or why some people are chosen and some are not is beyond me to explain. I know Ji-kure didn't have it, whereas Shanks did, but in every other way I'd say Gramps was the stronger of the two."

"Shanks would cry if he heard you say that," Makino said mildly before shaking her head. "But I'd have to agree with it."

"Anyway, I intend to train you all in the Rokushiki, which should, as I said, lead you into developing your haki. I want all of you to know at least two of the Rokushiki, your choices as to which, before we get to our first Grand Line island. I should also be able to feel when you're ready to move on to haki, at least the armor kind, though that's more guesswork than I'd like. Sorry Nami, but Makino and I don't have as good a grasp of Kenbonshoku haki as we do Busoshoku."

"That's fine, I suppose. I can figure out how to build it up myself once I get Kami-E down to the point where I don't have to concentrate on it," Nami shrugged. "But saying that, I've been getting the impression since we first met that you two know some things about the Grand Line?"

Luffy waved to Makino who took over from him. "We do, since we both asked Garp and Shanks about it. First of all, navigation works differently there…" Makino went on from there to explain the oddities they would be facing on the Grand Line.

Through it all Nami scowled, making notes on a piece of paper she had pulled from her bodice, a sight that made Luffy flush and look away for a moment, though Nami didn't notice. "I suppose if the islands are so different, tean their having separate magnetic fields makes some sense, and then of course those differing systems would interfere whenever they overlap, creating conflicting weather patterns and ocean currents. It shouldn't be possible, but I can understand it… Reverse Mountain, hmm… Theoretically possible too…"

She trailed off, a look of excitement on her face as she thought of the major navigational challenges they would face on the Grand Line, and Zoro for the first time realized why Luffy had been so certain Nami was the navigator for them. Any normal navigator would have discounted Makino's words, or perhaps been unwilling to face the challenge ahead of them. But Nami was willing to take on that challenge, just like Zoro would have any person attempting to take him on with a sword in their hands.

After a moment, however, Nami looked up from her notes at them all. "I realize we've already talked about this captain~," she began, smirking as Luffy visibly twitched at the teasing tone in her voice as she used that title, as she had been for the past few days. "But we really need to sell the _Bastard._ We just can't handle this big a ship in the tornadoes and other types of weather we're going to face in the Grand Line. A schooner would be ideal, or perhaps a sloop, though a schooner would serve better given we might eventually add more people to our crew."

"That's why I said we would be buying a new ship in Logue Town. Though even then, don't get too attached. I've been saving most of our money so we can buy a good ship eventually on the Grand Line from one of the islands that specialize in ship-building." Luffy explained.

"OY!" Nami exclaimed, shooting to her feet and pointing at Luffy angrily. "That's my money you're talking about there!"

"Not all of it, most of it's mine. Captains get the biggest share of the loot," Luffy teased a smirk on his face, the same Saotome style™ smirk that had driven his rivals crazy and the girls at Furinkan to blush, though he hadn't bothered noticing the second aspect at the time.

Nami grumbled, looking away with a faint flush on her face which thankfully no one noticed. She really wanted to argue, but couldn't when Luffy smirked at her like that. "That is so unfair," she grumped half-heartedly.

"Not really," everyone else said in unison, even Sanji. _Ugh, I guess I really am in the wrong here, but all that money…_ With an effort of will Nami banished the pout from her face, staring at Luffy. "So new ship, right? But what if we can't buy a ship in Logue Town that meets our requirements?"

"Then we steal one," Luffy replied with a blasé shrug. "Pirates, remember?" Everyone, even Nami, laughed at that.

Two days later, the ship sailed into the port of Logue Town. It was a somewhat large port for East Blue, with an equally large marine base set to one side of it, but pretty open despite that. As the _Bastard_ sailed in the crew saw several ships scattered around the port. A few were large freight haulers; two were passenger liners. A few of them were smaller yachts, resting near the shipyard set to the opposite side of the port from the marine base.

"Well, we're here captain," Nami said as the ship came to rest against the wharf and Sanji and Zoro tied them down. "What are your orders?"

"GAHH, okay just stop it! That is so damn creepy whenever you say it Nami!" Luffy shouted, whirling on Nami and throwing his hands up in the air, before pointing at her irritably. "Especially since if you didn't agree with my orders you'd just ignore them."

In reply Nami pumped her fist. "Yes! About time. I'd have thought you'd crack days ago." Luffy pouted at that while Nami simply giggled. The two of them had taken to teasing or joking around with one another like this ever since leaving Cocoyashi, with Nami greatly enjoying her newfound freedom from the shadow of Arlong and of being able to be herself around her crew without restraint.

Now she became more serious. "Still, what should we do? With the marines having such a strong presence we should be careful and quick. Despite the pictures of you three being rather horrible, the odds of one of you being recognized is probably high. I'd say we should only spend a bare day here just in case, unless we want to make trouble here?"

"Nah, no point in causing a ruckus unless we have to. But I do want to see the execution tower, the one where Gold Roger was executed," Luffy replied, his voice becoming equally serious, his eyes shadowed by his straw hat, yet still somehow glowing with excitement. "I want to see the place of the beginning and the end. The end of the Pirate King, and the beginning of the age of pirates."

Nami shivered at the words, both the phrasing and the amount of import Luffy was able to pack into them. "W…Well, I would say the execution platform would be set somewhere near the center of the town, but I can't help you more than that without looking around myself first."

"Let's sell the _Bastard_ and get all of our items stored somewhere, then check out the local shipyard before anything else," Makino interjected.

"Leave that to me Makino-swan!" Sanji said, twirling up out of the galley. "I know more than a bit about ships and selling them. Carne and I used to have to sell the ships of pirates who made trouble at the Baratie."

"Well in that case that's all on you Sanji. Though if it's a woman, I'm making Makino take over," Luffy said with a laugh.

The others all laughed too, even Sanji who acknowledged that that was probably a good plan. They made their way to the shipyard and came back with an inspector. After much haggling on Sanji's part, the man wrote them a check for a measly 2,000,000 beli for the _Inglorious Bastard._ Being very top heavy it did not have the best design, and the sailing system was too man intensive for any but the largest crews to make the best use of.

After that, the crew stowed their gear, including Nami's tangerine trees, in one of the town's warehouses. From there, though, the crew began to split up, wanting to put off buying a ship for now. Zoro was the first. "I need to look into either buying some swords in bulk or finding some better quality blades for myself."

"Oh, that'll no doubt be expensive, Zoro-kun," Nami said, making a beli sign with her fingers. "I could be convinced to give you a loan you know…"

"None of that, Nami. Remember, you're **not** the ship's purser, so it doesn't matter to you how much money it takes. Besides, Zoro gets a cut from the bounties we took after he joined, especially that one sword-using guy, Gojunk, Lassgrab?" Luffy looked over at Zoro as Nami backed down, once again pouting at not being in control of all that money.

Zoro shrugged ignorance, and Makino handed over around a million beli, which should be more than enough to buy two good swords. "Now don't get lost, Zoro; I really don't want to have to search for you later," she teased, causing Zoro to flush angrily before he snatched the money out of her hands and stalked off, the green-haired girl's laughter ringing in his ears.

The two women left next, eager to go shopping and see the sights. This left Sanji and Luffy to walk together for a time until Sanji got directions to the town's food market. As he made to turn away, though, Luffy called him back. "Wait a second Sanji, I've got something else I want you to look into buying."

Sanji paused listening as Luffy told him, then shook his head. "You know if you don't want to be called captain Luffy you might want to stop planning ahead like that."

Luffy laughed, smirking at him. "Well, I'm all for always playing by the seat of my pants, but I don't think Nami or Makino would appreciate it as much."

"True," Sanji replied with a laugh before waving his hand in a lackadaisical manner, turning away. "I'll look into it, captain." With that the two of them parted ways, with Luffy making his way to the center of the town, as Sanji moved off toward the eastern portion of the town.

 **OOOOOOO**

For several hours Zoro simply wandered, too prideful to ask directions as he searched around for a store that sold weapons. He stopped, however, as he heard some kind of commotion to one side of the street, more a back alley that he was currently walking along. Moving in that direction he stared at… "K-Kuina!?"

The girl he so addressed had the same short-cut blue hair as his old friend/rival, and even the same facial features, though this girl's hair was perhaps a shade lighter in color. She was also wielding a sword against two random thugs as he watched. She dealt with them easily enough, then seemingly tripped as her glasses fell off her nose.

Zoro, still in a daze from the utterly bizarre resemblance, bent down to pick the glasses up, holding them out as if they were made of glass. "Er, here."

"Oh thank you," the Kuina clone replied, and Zoro sucked in a breath, thankful beyond words that her voice, at the very least, wasn't like Kuina's. She slipped the glasses over her nose, peering through them at Zoro. She frowned momentarily as if she almost recognized him. But thankfully for Zoro she didn't seem to, instead turning her attention to the two men she had just knocked out. "I'm always so clumsy right after I use that move, I wonder why?"

"That's because you're overextending between your attack's last step and your recovery," Zoro replied promptly. "That sword of yours isn't your real sword; its added weight is throwing off your footwork."

"Oh, that makes sense. Ah, but does that mean you're a swordsman?"

Zoro simply nodded, now somewhat uncomfortable at having spoken up so quickly and desperate to change the subject. "Erm, I don't suppose you could give me directions to a weapons' store could you? I need to replace my sword." Zoro didn't want to outright say he used a three sword style, after all who else but 'Pirate Hunter' Zoro used Santoryou? And the Kuina-lookalike had already almost recognized him in any event.

"Oh, um yes, I can show you the best store in the city; I even have business there myself." Not noticing Zoro's sigh the girl turned away moving down the street expecting him to follow. "By the way, I'm Tashigi. What's your name?"

"Roronoa," Zoro said, unwilling to lie to a fellow swordsman but also not saying his first name which was much more well-known than his last.

Tashigi nodded, asking Zoro about his training and what kind of swords he used, seemingly excited to talk shop with another swordsman. Zoro could relate, somewhat. Luffy wasn't a swordsman despite his apparent skill with the weapon, and while sharing a lot of the same beliefs, didn't really understand why Zoro thought different swords styles, swords, and other things of that nature were interesting.

The two of them kept talking until they arrived at the store. There Tashigi quickly walked up to the man at the counter, an older man with what was rather strange, clown-like hair in Zoro's opinion. "Excuse me, do you have my sword ready for me yet?"

But the man had no attention to spare for her, instead staring at Zoro's waist. He was about to shout and attack the man for staring at him like that, but then he realized the man was looking at the one sword Zoro had at his side at present rather than at anything else. "Th…that sword!"

Ignoring Tashigi, the man quickly came running around the counter, almost making to grab the white-hilted blade from Zoro's waist. "Hey mister, you wouldn't happen to be in the mood for selling…"

He backed up as Zoro's eyes darkened along with the rest of his face, though when Zoro spoke it was a simple statement of the way the world would be that made the man nearly shake as the power of it hit him. **"NO."**

"Oh my gosh!" Tashigi said, having come up behind the rather rude shopkeeper and seemingly not effected by Zoro's tone. "That sword, how did I miss it? It has to be a named blade!" Before either man could say anything, the girl had pulled a small, well-worn book out of her pocket, flipping through it until she seemed to find the picture she was looking for. "Ah, here it is. Wado Ichimonji, one of the O Wazamono blades, one of the 33 greatest blades in the world!"

"Wado…" Zoro mused, pulling the sword free of his belt and holding it lengthwise in front of his face pulling the blade out of its sheath for a moment. Both of the other people in the shop stared at the perfection of the blade, the wave visible along its edge, but Zoro ignored them. Instead he tried to, as Luffy had described, push his will out into the blade saying softly, "Nice to know your name at last, Wado Ichimonji."

For just a moment Zoro felt it, the spirit of the blade. Wado's spirit wasn't vocal or outgoing, but it was deep and powerful, like an ancient piece of granite, unyielding to anything, yet welcoming to its owner. Zoro felt his lips twitch into a smirk, and he clicked the blade back into its sheath, staring at the girl and the shopkeeper. "Not for sale," he said firmly. Pulling out the wad of bills he placed it on the counter. "Where are your best swords?"

The shopkeeper stared at the money then up at the swordsman before looking back to the sword at Zoro's side before shaking his head. "Um, any of the swords on display by themselves are good, but I don't have any blade up to that level!"

"True, there's no way a blade like one of the 33 would be sold in a shop like this, or indeed in a shop at all. They are all works of art one and all, they even make my own Shigure seem normal in comparison." Tashigi nodded, still staring at the sword in Zoro's hand before visibly shaking herself as he moved off to examine the blades. "Speaking of, is it ready yet?"

"Hai, just come this way," the shopkeeper muttered, still staring at Zoro even as he walked away. This was why he was the first to notice Zoro had turned away from the swords on the wall one hand still holding Wado. Zoro stopped however by the bargain bin, which was full of cheap swords, the likes of which he'd been destroying three or even four pairs of per day since leaving Coocoyashi. "Ahh, wait!?"

Zoro didn't wait. Instead he set Wado back on his belt and reached down, pulling out a sword with a reddish brown hilt capped by a gold guard and pommel, and a reddish brown sheath marked by gold clasps and a gold cap. He stared at the hilt for a moment before pulling out the blade, examining it intently.

Behind Zoro, Tashigi gaped at the sword instantly able to tell that its quality was far more than the bargain bin it had been in would have indicated. "That sword… No doubt that's a mistake that it's in the bargain bin! I know I've seen that blade before…"

Before she could open up her little book again the shop owner shook his head. "That sword's not for sale! My wife must have put it out again, but no one who knows swords is going to buy it and I won't be a party to murder by selling it to anyone who can't tell it's…"

"Cursed," Zoro said calmly, turning the blade this way and that. Like Wado, the sword was a thing of beauty, with a white edge and a blue-tinted hamon that resembled flames.

"Y…yes. Its name is Sandai Kitetsu, and like all the Kitetsu blades it's cursed. How can you…" the shopkeeper stuttered.

"I could just feel it."

The shopkeeper gulped, regaining some of his control. "W…well then you can see why I don't want to sell it," Beside him Tashigi nodded, looking at the sword warily now.

Zoro held up the sword, smirking at Kitetsu for a moment as he set its sheath down. "How about this then, we test this sword's curse against my luck?" With that he threw the sword up into an arc to one side of his body, holding his arm out underneath it.

"Are you crazy!? That blade's edge is the real deal! You're going to lose your fool arm!" the shopkeeper shrieked, as Tashigi gasped, her eyes wide behind her glasses.

The sword flipped in the air making a 'whoom, 'whoom' sound as it went, but instead of cutting Zoro's arm off, the blade just barely missed cutting into his upper arm, missing his arm by so little Zoro could feel his little hairs moving under the wind of the sword's passage. The sword then sunk deep into the floor of the shop, burying half its length into the floor as if the wood was butter.

Zoro grinned, a devil may care grin that did nothing to hide its equally dangerous edge. "I'll take it."

As he turned he saw Tashigi fall to her rear, staring at him and the blade he now carried in shock. The shopkeeper however had a look more approaching awe. Before Zoro could ask how much Kitetsu cost, the man turned, racing into the back of the store and returning with a sword, setting it onto a stand. "Sir, it has been years since I have seen a real swordsman come into my shop. I beg of you to take this blade too. It's my own family's blade, but none of us have been able to actually wield it in generations. Its name is Yubashiri."

The Katana in question was a high quality blade, though not as high as Kitetsu or Wado. It was also slightly longer, and had a slightly less pronounced curve to it. Zoro could tell its quality the moment he pulled the blade, which had a black hilt with a gold cross-guard and pommel, out of its equally black sheath. Looking at the shopkeeper, Zoro shrugged. "I gave you a million beli. Is that enough for both?"

"Under normal circumstances, no, not for both. But in response to your courage sir, I will gladly sell you both swords for that price!" the man said, actually bowing so much he nearly slammed his head into the counter next to Yubashiri.

"Then I'll take them both, with thanks," Zoro said, and without another word clipped both blades to his waist. Carrying three blades once more made Zoro smile and he turned away quickly. "Thanks for showing me this place, Tashigi." With a final nod directed to the girl, Zoro left the shop. As Tashigi watched, astonishment gave way to confusion when the sight of three swords tried to jog her memory.

After a second, however, she pushed herself to her feet, rushing out after Roronoa, who was standing at the end of the road, looking around as if he was confused about where to go. "Wait!" she shouted. As the green-haired man turned to her she asked quickly, "How… That is, how did you know Kitetsu wouldn't cut you?"

Zoro looked at her, seeing more of Tashigi the person this time rather than the Kuina look-alike. Even so, looking at her was still damn irritating and he turned away quickly. "I didn't, I was just willing to try."

"Wh, why?!" Tashigi gasped. "I, I mean, I know Kitetsu is a magnificent sword, but to willingly put a limb on the line for it is, well it's crazy!"

"Heh, not the first time I've been called that," Zoro laughed, still not looking at her. One hand came to rest on Wado's hilt, and he smiled faintly. "Do you have a dream?"

Tashigi blinked then nodded slowly. "Yes, I, I want to reclaim all the Named Blades in the world which have wound up in pirate hands. None of them are worth having such magnificent swords!"

That made Zoro's eyes narrow and he turned to look at her full in the face once more before smirking. "Nice sentiment I suppose, though that's far too broad a label for me to like. After all, until you walk a mile in a man's shoes, who are you to tell him he's wrong to take to piracy?" As Tashigi seemed to puff herself up in outrage, he went on. "To answer your question, I have a dream. And if I wasn't willing to put my life on the line, let alone a limb or two, how the hell would I ever achieve it?"

The conviction in Roronoa's voice silenced Tashigi's outrage at his comment, and she stared stupefied as he walked away. By the time she recovered, Roronoa had turned a corner, and was gone from sight.

 **OOOOOOO**

Nami smirked, placing another dress aside as she and Makino left a clothing store giggling to one another. She and Makino had **very** different views on fashion, but they had a similar idea on how to have fun with poor clothing store owners. This being the first time they'd been in a large enough city to have a shopping district they had indulged. The two of them had left a trail of sobbing men in their wake after trying on literally everything in each store in turn.

Walking arm in arm the two of them moved down the street, but then Nami pulled them both to a stop, twitching her head to one side as she overheard a snippet of conversation. "I tell you while business in the shipyard might be down, the city has never been safer since Smoker-sama arrived last year."

"My husband doesn't like it; he's been forced to lay off half his workers. But I have to agree, I can do with a little less money in the bank in return for peace of mind."

The two women exchanged a glance. "Have you ever heard of this Smoker guy?" asked Nami.

"Hmm… I can't say the name rings a bell, but it shouldn't be a problem, unless he is a Vice Admiral." Makino shrugged. "The people of that rank and above are not only stronger, but have a wider skill set than those below, and would be much harder to deal with. I will admit this Smoker's perfect record worries me though."

"Then we should find the others and get out of here as quietly as possible. We don't need trouble," Nami replied, looking around them and after only a few seconds making unerringly for the food market.

"Nami, has Luffy ever struck you as the type to run from trouble? We'll deal with it if the marines come after us. I think you need to get over this idea of running away all the time." Makino said in a surprisingly firm tone of voice. "I know why you built up that mindset, but Zoro and Luffy are not the type to do so, and Luffy is our captain. He might listen to your worries and even act on them, but he is also far more likely to pick a fight than you seem comfortable with."

"Ugh, don't remind me," Nami groused.

Makino might have continued the discussion but Sanji's voice interrupted them. "Nami-chan, Makino-swan! You've come to look for me; I'm so happy!"

The two girls turned watching as the chef whirled through the small crowd around them in his usual extravagant manner. Nami leaned in to whisper in Makino's ear. "You know if we ever run into a female marine we're screwed, right? She'd bat her eyelashes and suddenly Sanji would turn on Luffy and Zoro."

"Personally I have to wonder if he's trying too hard to cover another kind of interest," Makino replied dryly, causing Nami to first gape then collapse laughing to her knees.

Sanji helped her to her feet but when he asked what she had been laughing at Nami could only wave him away, still giggling. Makino however came to her aid, asking Sanji, "What is in that small box Sanji, the unlabeled one."

Sanji was currently wearing an overlarge pack about three feet wider than he was on top of being taller than his waist if set on the ground next to him. Under one arm he held several boxes carrying various spices and smaller ingredients, each box properly labelled except for the one Makino had noticed. As Nami moved away from him Sanji rearranged the bundles in his arms before shaking his head in something like amused respect. "Ah, that is proof that our captain can at times plan ahead."

"Now I'm interested," Nami replied, reaching out to take the box from Sanji as Makino, despite his protests, took some of the other boxes. The three of them then made their way down the street toward the wharfs and the warehouse in which they had stored their stuff. As they did, Nami opened the box, gasping slightly at what was inside. "Wow, an entire set? This must've been expensive!"

"No kidding, Nami-chan. Luffy gave me something like two million beli, and I spent most of it on those things. The World Government can't fully regulate them, they're too darn useful. But they can make it really expensive to own them," Sanji said as he too looked at the small box of den-den mushi. Most were of a size to be carried in a pocket, paired to each other and another larger one which took up half the box. There were also two video Mushi, Mushi which could record and send video to the larger circuit board Mushi.

Dropping off their stuff, the three of them moved down to the shipyards as Makino shared what the girls had learned of the marine presence here. Like Nami had feared, Sanji simply nodded, not seeing anything there to worry about. He wasn't going to look for a fight, but he certainly wasn't willing to just run away at the first sign of trouble.

The dockyard was somewhat busy, but to Makino's dismay none of it was actual shipbuilding. All the work going on was repairing existing ships. There were a few yachts that were the right size, but asking around none of them were for sale. They could, of course, steal one, but Sanji pointed out that none of the yachts were armed, and they had sold the _Bastard_ 's cannons with the rest of the ship.

From there the trio moved along the wharf, checking out the various ships, noticing one which hadn't been there when they arrived which looked like a pirate ship. There were a few marines on board, undoing the rigging and makes notes for some reason, while others were busy tying up the prisoners.

"Looks like the marines here are at least organized. I also see that whoever this Smoker guy is they run a tight ship. The pirates didn't have time to cause much damage," Sanji noted, dragging on his cigarette for a second, gesturing around them with the hand holding the cigarette before they passed through the marines.

"Hmmm, I don't like that. But then again, this Smoker fellow does have a bit of a reputation."

From there their walk continued, but they didn't find any ship that really met their requirements. Sanji stopped at the end of the public wharf area, staring back the way they had come before turning to look at the three ships over his shoulder. He was about to speak when he spotted Luffy, moving through the crowd to one side of the docks and heading their way. He called out to Nami and Makino, and the three moved toward Luffy, who met them halfway. Makino explained what they had been doing, and Luffy nodded before looking over to where Sanji had been before. "Hmm… Well, then we'll have to steal one of the ships that do match what we need."

As Sanji grinned around his cigarette the girls first gaped, then, in Makino's case, joined Sanji in laughing. Nami however just shook her head. "You're crazy! We can't do that!"

"Remember, we're pirates Nami. This kind of thing should be sort of expected," Luffy said with a smirk.

"I'll stay here then," Makino said, still laughing. "We might need a bit of a plan if we're going to do this after all. Can you fit most of our stuff in your ki space?" she asked, looking at Luffy. Luffy had sort of explained ki spaces the day after he had explained Haki to the crew, though only Zoro had seemed to really understand it. They had all seen it, though, so believed it was real at least.

"Yeah, I'll go do that now I think," Luffy said, standing up from the table at which they had all been sitting, having a bite to eat. "Sanji, if you've got everything, why don't you and Nami come with me. I don't want to have to put her tangerine trees or the Mushi in there just in case. No telling how they'd react to being in there. After that, though, I really do want to find the damn execution platform. I tried to find it earlier but I got turned around the moment I entered the city proper. Too many small alleyways."

"If you hurt my trees, Luffy, I'll make fertilizer out of your head," Nami growled as she and Sanji stood up. "But I'll point you in the right direction at least. Oh, but leave one of the Den Den Mushi here with Makino. That way we'll be able to get in touch with her."

"Good thinking. In fact I'll carry two of them just in case I spot Zoro," Luffy said before leading the way off.

They left Makino as they walked off, and she sighed, leaning back slightly. She was a good deal older than the others on the crew, and though fun-loving and adventuresome, Makino did like to have some time to herself occasionally. Ordering another pot of tea, she sat, pulling out a small fantasy novel to read while also watching her target. She was still there as the tramp of marching feet passed by and opportunity knocked.

Moving into the café's small bathroom she pulled out her Den Den Mushi and held it to her mouth, watching in amusement as the shell changed slightly, becoming green along it's shell as it's face changed to look sort of like her own. "I always like watching you Den Den's mold yourselves to your owners." She shook her head then spoke into the receiver. "Sanji, Nami, I think we have an opportunity here…"

 **OOOOOOO**

"I still can't get over what we're planning to do," Nami groused as she checked on her trees. The time in their pots stuck along one wall of the area they had rented in the warehouse wouldn't do them any harm, but it never hurt to check. When she felt a nudge she sighed, plucking a single tangerine off the tree and holding it out to Luffy as she turned to look at him.

"Why's it so surprising Nami? We're pirates. I would have thought you'd be right along the idea of stealing like this, especially from people who won't be missing it. If we were stealing from a family or something like that I'd see your point, but not here."

"We will have enough enemies as we sail the seas regardless of anything we actually do, Luffy. I just don't think we should go around making our names even worse," Nami argued. "We can find a yacht and retrofit it over time. We don't need to…"

"Nami," Luffy said seriously, setting the tangerine down gently on the top of one of Sanji's boxes as he was busy working over a clipboard of some kind. Sanji looked up, scowling but not saying anything as Luffy gently rested his hands on both of Nami's shoulders. "You're worried about the WG and marines coming after us more seriously than they would otherwise for a group of rookies if we go about doing stuff like this. I understand that. But you need to understand that it is only a matter of time until that happens anyway. Not only because of the skills we all already have, but also because of our dreams. The WG likes the status quo, and none of our dreams are good for that ideal. Not even yours."

"What? What do you mean **my** dream!? All I want is to make an accurate map of the whole world! What's wrong with that?"

"The whole world part, duh." Luffy replied. "You can't seriously think that the world government doesn't have secret bases, islands they don't want people to know about, secrets out there hidden because no normal navigator can find them. Or are you just going to let challenges like that out of your perfect map? Or an accurate map showing the route to Raftel, a place they don't want anyone finding ever again?"

Nami growled at the very thought of besmirching her dream like that. Her map would be of the whole world damn it! Then the implications of Luffy's words sank in and she paled. "You…you mean if anyone learns what I'll be doing, I'll be seen as just as dangerous as you and the others?"

"That's right," Luffy said softly, realizing that actually hadn't occurred to Nami before this. While odd, he thought it was somewhat understandable. but she needed to realize that going forward. "The best you could hope for would be that the WG would capture you then put you to work for them instead, though even that is doubtful."

Luffy then smirked that smirk of his that set Nami's pulse to racing for some reason. "Besides, you told me this Smoker guy's been here for a few months. If he's good enough to have the reputation he does, then he could have done something to help Cocoyashi. Think of making trouble for him like this as a bit of payback."

"Hah, you should have led with that baka," Nami replied, looking away. "Alright, I understand your point, but I still need to think about it. I mean, I've spent my life trying to run away—to keep my head down. The idea that my dream is still going to paint a target on my back… That will take some getting used to."

"Just remember at the same time that you've got me, Sanji, and the rest of the crew here ready and willing to not only help you achieve your dreams, but to protect you as you achieve them," Luffy said, looking over at Sanji who had stopped what he was doing to listen in. "Right?"

"Of course! Nami-swan, don't worry. If anyone threatens even a hair on your head I will destroy them utterly!" Sanji declaimed grandly as he swirled over to her bowing gallantly.

"See?"

Nami laughed, flushing as once again Luffy smirked at her before turning around and helping Sanji load up Luffy's ki space. She remained there, watching them, a warm, happy feeling filling her as the two men joshed around as they worked. The warmth banished the feelings of concern, even fear, which Luffy's words had invoked. Nami realized she would need to think about Luffy words more later but she also knew he was right.

Moments later Nami gave Luffy directions to the execution tower, having picked up the layout of the city almost absentmindedly as she and Makino rampaged through its dress shops. Nami, however, stayed in the warehouse with Sanji, leaning against one of her trees and thinking about what Luffy had said, and what it probably meant for the long term. Sanji, perforce, stayed with her, pulling out a cookbook from South Blue to read; enjoying himself as he made notes in the margins making fun of the original author's cooking skills, or begrudgingly adding a positive one here and there.

They both looked up as Makino called them on the den-den mushi. Hearing the other woman out, Nami smiled, throwing off her concerns and worries for now. Since she was a naturally non-combative individual they would come back to her, but right now looking out into the sky and feeling the wind from the open window, Nami had an idea. "Sanji-kun, why don't you go grab that cart? I'll meet you there, but I have some things I need to do first."

 **OOOOOOO**

Thanks to Nami's directions Luffy had found the execution platform quickly, having taken to the rooftops. Crossing the courtyard around the platform, Luffy climbed up the side of the thing as fast as any monkey, not wanting to advertise his ability to use Geppo unless he had to. Standing on top of the platform, Luffy stared around at the city and the ocean visible beyond. "Not a bad view, though I wouldn't like it to be my last," he murmured, taking his hat off his head.

Luffy looked around for a few moments, ignoring the shouting of some official or other below ordering him to get down. Having finished taking in the view, Luffy held his hat against his chest, bowing his head humbly as he remembered the man whose life had ended at this place.

This was why he didn't notice the marines arriving until a gruff voice from right beside him spoke up. "Oy, brat. You the one called Straw Hat Luffy? You don't look like much. What is the world coming to when a little punk like you has a bounty of 65,000,000?"

Luffy turned, and despite the other man's words was able to look him in the eye. The other man was older around middle-aged at least, with close-cropped, naturally grey hair and a thick cigar in his mouth billowing smoke. His face was stern, his shoulders wider than even Zoro's, and he had an overall look of strength underneath a customized marine uniform. He also had a jutte, which was an old-fashioned police baton, the size of a broadsword hanging from his back.

"You must be Smoker. I've heard of you. And is the straw hat my only memorable feature? I mean, come on, man. Devil-smirk Luffy maybe, or Blue-eyed Luffy, that would go with my cook's label. Something clever, not obvious," Luffy groused, shaking his head while replacing his hat, and turned to the marine fully. "Don't suppose we could hold off on this could we? Only this place does sort of have historic importance, and I'd rather not be a party to wrecking it."

Smoker looked around them too but then turned back to Luffy, his eyes hardening. "While I might agree with you there, I'm afraid I can't just let you go, not even for a few seconds. Not so long as you're a pirate, and I'm a marine."

"Oh, you and your superiors seemed fine with letting Arlong alone for years and he was a pirate?" Luffy said, smirking insolently at the other man even as his own eyes sharpened noticeably. "Funny that, or did you get a share of Nezumi's cut too?"

In a flash the jutte was off Smoker's shoulder and leveled its blunt end like a sword point toward Luffy. "I don't know this Nezumi, and I would never stoop so low as to accept bribes! Now come along quietly or I'll take you in by force."

"You mean you'll try, Smoker," Luffy said, still smirking. Then he was gone, and a fist passed through Smoker's head as it turned into smoke. A second later Luffy stood behind Smoker's previous position watching as the man's body dissipated into smoke. "Ah, so your name's not just a comment on your smoking habit. This might be tougher than I thought."

A second later he dodged Smoker's fist as it came out of the smoke like a rocket propelled by that very smoke. Leaping into the air, Luffy ducked under and around more punches, his Kami-E aiding his already high ability to dodge.

However in return he couldn't tag the logia user and Luffy's lips twisted as his fist smashed into the top of the execution platform with enough force to shatter it. "Now see, this is what I was talking about!"

Below them, several squads of marines had moved in, taking up position at each entrance to the courtyard around the execution platform. Others were on the rooftops, their guns trained on the action occurring on top of the platform. In charge of all this now that Smoker had closed with their target was a young woman that Zoro would have recognized.

Chief Petty Officer Tashigi had changed her clothing and was now wearing an only moderately modified marine uniform. Hidden near the entrance to the courtyard she was watching the contest tensely, worrying. She and Smoker had moved out of their base the moment word reached them that someone somewhat matching the bounty picture was seen in town, putting together a decent plan on the fly to catch Monkey D. Luffy whatever he tried.

Neither she nor any of the marines noticed that they in turn were being watched by a group of cloaked individuals from further down on of the main streets leading into the courtyard. "What should we do captain?" asked one of them, staring at the fight.

The one he addressed seemed to be slumped in place, muttering to himself. "Years of keeping my head down, trying to stay out of trouble and now this! 75,000,000! And they don't even know about my past! No, it's because of that flashy bastard Kuro! I should have left him alive to at least take the fall, but no. All those marine deaths are being put on my shoulders instead. If he was still alive I'd flashy torture the fool for this!"

Another cloaked individual, her figure obviously feminine even under her all-encompassing cloak poked the captain in the side. "Enough of that Buggy, what should we do?"

That seemed to nudge Buggy out of his stupor. He glared around, noticing the number of marines, the fact that a few of them seemed to have special munition launchers, and worse, that Smoker was a logia type. "It doesn't seem as if our target's here, so we watch and wait. Send the crew back to the ship. Get it ready to leave. Regardless of anything else, we can't spend any more time here than necessary. Not with that…that flashy fucking bounty on my head! The three of us will stay here for now until those marines all get involved. By that point we should be able to tell who's winning. Maybe we'll get to see a flashy death; maybe we'll see Smoker get smoked. Either way, stepping in does us no good right now."

Back on top of the platform, Smoker was becoming more impressed the longer the fight went on. While Luffy obviously couldn't do anything to him, the pirate's ability to dodge and move even in midair was incredible. His use of Kami-E and Geppo was masterful, beyond any actual marine Smoker had ever seen use it, and he even knew some Soru. Tekkai, of course, wouldn't have helped the pirate much, but Luffy seemed to know that, dodging instead of trying to take any of Smoker's punches.

"You're good, Straw Hat, very good. It's a pity you want to be a pirate. You could have made a great marine!" With that Smoker attacked again, driving Luffy backwards.

Luffy flipped away before using Soru to dash to the side and down, landing on the ground near Tashigi as he stared up at Smoker, who was slowly bringing his body back together again and moving down towards him. "Nope, I wouldn't make a good marine. I prefer following my own brand of justice rather than orders from murderers and slavers."

"Excuse me!" Tashigi barked from nearby, shocked at that accusation into speaking and breaking her cover. "How dare you talk about the World Government like that!"

Smoker said nothing, knowing all too well what Luffy was talking about. Instead, he simply attacked, unwilling to let Luffy demoralize his sergeant.

It didn't work. Even as he dodged around, using Geppo and his mastery of midair combat, Luffy was still able to answer the female marine's shouted question. "Does the Human Auctioning House ring a bell? Or the fact that the Tenryubito own slaves, and can order anyone killed for any reason they want, regardless of law? Or how about what happened to Fuchsia Island a few years ago, when hundreds died in a bombardment ordered by the king because he wanted to get rid of the Grey Terminal so he could impress a visiting Tenryubito? Huh?!"

Luffy ducked under one of Smoker's fists, slipping up and over a jutte strike before pulling it out of the other man's fist in a show of strength that took the marine aback for a moment. Before Smoker could recover, the end of his own jutte struck into the smoke that his body had become, and suddenly that segment of his body was solid. Smoker grunted in pain, his smoke forming into his physical body once more, then attacked again, his form flowing forward from everywhere at once.

Some of his kicks and punches got through now that he was above Luffy, but not many, and in return he had to be on the watch for the end of his jutte. It was obvious that Luffy had figured out that the jutte had seastone built into its tip.

But that wasn't Luffy's only offensive attack. "Rankyaku!" With that Luffy shot out several dozen winds blades, not only from his feet, but from his hands. Some of them didn't do much damage, only pushing through Smoker's smoke form to destroy much of the courtyard and the execution tower which crashed down behind Smoker.

But others were **sharper** somehow, and when they intersected his smoke form Smoker actually felt some pain from them. He backed away, reforming for a moment and rubbing at a few bruises that appeared on his physical body in reaction to the attack. They were small, but they were still there.

"Heh, I bet your post here is the same sort of thing. I bet you were ordered to remain here whatever you heard, no matter what pirate was out there making trouble. And like a good little dog you obeyed Smokey. That's really sad." Luffy said, continuing to use his Saotome-style taunting attack.

As Tashigi stared at Luffy white-faced and the marines all around her glared at this pirate scum daring to preach at them Smoker turned to them and barked. "What are you waiting for? Get him!"

Before they could attack Luffy, however, Zoro arrived on the scene from behind the marines along one side of the courtyard. "Tatsumaki!" He roared, lashing out with the tornado of air and sending first dozens then over a hundred marines flying to land in heaps. "Yo Luffy, is this a private party?"

"Meh, doesn't seem all that selective a party, Zoro," Luffy replied, then dodged to one side as Smoker charged him again, his stolen jutte slamming down into the man's hand with bone crushing force.

Smoker howled in pain as his fingers were crushed under the blow, and was unable to dodge the Rankyaku that caught his head. Thankfully his head was still semi-smoke, so he was only smashed backwards, head ringing from the blow, and hand in pain.

Tashigi turned, putting aside her questions about what Luffy had said. Never having served anywhere but in East Blue, she had no idea about the evils the Tenryubito did, let alone allowed, so his words had come as a major shock to her system. But the sight of Zoro allowed her something to concentrate on. "YOU!"

As Smoker and Luffy clashed once more behind her Tashigi charged Zoro, lashing out at him as he cut down a few of her men. Later she would notice that Zoro hadn't used the edge of his katanas, only the blunt side, but right now that failed to register. "You, you are Roronoa Zoro?! I should have known, damn it. Did you think it was funny to hide your identity from me when we were at the shop earlier? I swear I'm going to take those swords from you; you're not worthy of them!"

"I never lied about who I was. I even told you my first name." Zoro replied calmly, using Yubashiri to block her attack. He could feel the bloodlust Kitetsu held, and had already run into trouble stopping it from turning in his grip to bring its cutting edge to bear on his opponents. But there was no need to kill these weak marines, they weren't worth the effort. So he used Yubashiri instead. "And as for my swords, I think I showed I was worthy of them and I paid for them too. Unless you're talking about Wado, which you'll only take from me if you can pry it out of my cold, dead fingers."

For a moment the two of them danced around one another as the sky darkened above them. More marines joined in one or the other battle only to get smashed aside by Luffy and Zoro so quickly they proved no help whatsoever.

Smoker found his own jutte smashing into him every time he tried to coalesce into a man shape, but the pain from the continued Rankyaku attack was such that he had to back away occasionally. He was now bruised from head to toe, his breathing ragged. And Luffy looked as fresh as he had at the start of the fight.

With a snarl Smoker shouted, "White Blow!" and covered the area around Luffy with smoke attacking him from within it.

But still Luffy's use of Rankyaku and Soru allowed him too much mobility for Smoker to deal with. Then Smoker felt his jutte's end smashing into his forehead, and Smoker lost control of his powers, reforming completely into his human body and falling to land with a crash onto the cobblestones below.

He tried to get up off the ground but a kick to the side of his head laid Smoker out. He was left to stare up at Luffy, who laid the end of his jutte down on Smoker's body. Smoker could feel the now too familiar impact of seastone on his body, weakness flowing into him from the point of combat. "I win Smokey."

As that battle came to an end and more bystanders came out of hiding from behind the marine's former defensive lines to watch the goings on. Tashigi seemed to realize that Zoro was toying with her. "Damn it!" she screamed. "Take me seriously!"

"I am taking you seriously. I just don't want to kill someone who helped me find my new swords, that's all," Zoro replied, his voice still calm. After fighting Luffy for at least half a day ever since they had gotten the _Bastard_ back in Orange town, fighting Taghigi and her troops was nothing.

"Liar! Then why aren't you using the edge of those swords?! Is it pity, or are you looking down on me because I'm a woman?! I am a swordsman too damn it!" Tashigi shouted.

At that, Zoro lost his cool. Within two seconds he had downed the rest of the marines around him and had pressed Tashigi backwards, locking blades with her, overpowering her, and then nearly disarming the marine sergeant before suddenly pressing her back into a wall, staring at her from a foot away, her hands pinned over her head. Gathering his self-control as he stared into her stunned eyes, he tensed, moving backwards for a second, though the tip of Yubashiri was still pressed into the wall right next to her neck.

"Look," he growled. "I am not taking it easy on you, but I have no wish to kill everyone I cross blades with! That would make me a simple murderer, not a swordsman. As for you, GAH!" He suddenly turned away, his sword coming away from the wall next to Tashigi as he whirled around, shouting up at the sky. "You, this is some kind of joke isn't it? Well fuck you, God!"

Tashigi stared for a second, but got over her shock quickly, reaching down to where Shigure had fallen out of her hand moments ago. Before she could pick it up however Zoro had turned back, pointing at her in a mixture of anger and bafflement. "Listen up! I can't stand your face! Your face is exactly like an old friend of mine who died, and you even say the same sort of things she used to! It makes dealing with you irritating as hell! Just stop talking like her damn it, and for that matter do something about that face!"

"Wh, how dare you! It's not my fault I share your old friend's face!" Tashigi gasped, smacking Zoro's hand away. "My thoughts and my opinions are my own I'm not some doppelganger or something of your dead friend! I'm my own woman!"

Both of their attentions and the attention of everyone else turned at that to the battle between Luffy and Smoker as Smoker's body slammed into the ground. Tashigi made to race forward as Luffy placed the jutte against Smoker's chest, but Zoro held up Wado blocking her path. "Enough. This battle is over."

Luffy looked around the marines scattered everywhere, shaking his head as he looked down at Smoker, smirking at him. Smoker glared up at him. "I won't beg pirate. Finish it."

"Why would I do that? I don't kill unless I have to Smokey, and besides, you might become an interesting challenge sometime, if you stop relying on your logia power too much. Get stronger and come after me again." He snorted then, looking away. "Besides, this day's going to be bad enough for you later; I don't need to add to it now." He looked over at Zoro. "You done, Zoro?"

"Aye, captain," Zoro said, smirking as he moved over to join Luffy, and glancing back at Tashigi. "That goes for you too, you know. If you want me to 'take you seriously' then put in the effort to get better and find me again. I'm always up for a challenge."

Tashigi watched Zoro open mouthed as he moved to Luffy, staring down at Smoker before Luffy leaped up landing on top of the wreckage of the execution tower. Luffy stared around, noticing how many people were now looking at him from around the courtyard and beyond down the various streets leading into it. Smiling he cupped his hands and shouted in the loudest voice he could. " **I am the man who will be the next Pirate King!** "

Every marine there felt their jaws dropping at the sheer mind-numbing confidence (or arrogance) it took to say something like that here in Logue Town. Smoker gaped up at him, seeing the wide, beaming smile on Luffy's face as he said those words, remembering the smile Gold Roger had worn as he was led to his death. He couldn't believe someone else would declare himself the king of pirates like that here of all places, in the shadow of the execution platform no less.

At the foot of the execution tower, Zoro grinned at his captain as he dropped down, landing lightly and reclaiming the jutte from his first mate. Luffy looked down at Smoker and then around him. "If you want a rematch, find me in the Grand Line, Smoker. Or don't, and see if you can find your own sense of justice somehow. Maybe make up for backing murderers and slavers. That's up to you." Luffy grinned then, holding up the jutte. "But I'm keeping this toy. A trophy, you could say."

"Wh, damn you Straw Hat, guh!" Smoker grunted as he tried to get up. But his body refused to respond even after Luffy had removed the seastone from his chest, his wounds taking their toll. "You better believe I'll come after you. I'll never rest until I bring you to justice!"

Luffy laughed, shaking his head. "Maybe if you knew what that word actually meant, Smokey, I'd be worried. Later!" With that Zoro and Luffy left, taking to the skyline and leaving behind a furiously brooding commodore and a very confused and angry sergeant, not to mention all of their unconscious subordinates scattered all around them.

Nearby, three figures in cloaks continued to watch, with one of them actually chuckling as the other two stared in somewhat bemused admiration. "So cool…" said the shortest figure.

"Hmm… Well, if we want our revenge we need to catch that swordsman unawares. I'd like nothing better than to attack him, but Logia types recover damned quick. If we attacked Zoro and his new captain, Smoker would arrive soon after to stop the fun. Besides, we need to think up a way around Straw Hat's abilities first."

"Agreed," The womanly figure replied. "Let's head back to the ship. If we can attack him at long range we might have a better time of it, especially with our Long Nose here." She turned without another word, leading the way as the shorter of the trio laughed and began to brag about his skills. The woman was not listening, however. _Pirate King, hmm? Now that is a dream and a half, isn't it?_

As they moved through the town, Luffy looked at Zoro. "So, you showed up just in time. Did you plan that, or did you get lost?"

"Bah, nothing of the sort. I just…found myself at the right place at the right time. It's not my fault the roads moved around when I was trying to find the wharf," Zoro said, scoffing.

Laughing aloud, Luffy continued to walk next to Zoro, stopping as the air pressure changed for a moment before he pulled out his Den Den Mushi. Ignoring Zoro's inquisitive expression, he spoke into it. "Makino, Sanji, Nami. Er, Zoro and I just nearly knocked out a lot of marines, so I hope you all are ready to go."

"More than ready, Luffy," Nami replied, a kind of cackle almost in her tone. "We've got everything ready and stored already. We're just waiting for you to arrive to send off some…fireworks. But we were just about to call you; there's a tornado coming in. If we don't get out of harbor soon we might be stuck here for at least another day!"

"Don't wait for me on that," Luffy ordered. "Get the ship ready to leave!"

"Roger, captain!" Nami replied, then cut the connection.

Zoro and Luffy hurried their pace, but the sky above them opened up and began to rain cats and dogs. Thunder and lightning began to pound their ears at the same time, and Ranma growled, pulling at her now wet hair, waving Zoro to follow her into an alleyway. "I am so glad we already dealt with the marines. Still, let's take to the rooftops and the alleyways just in case. Don't want to throw away one of the uses for this form just because of a bit of rain."

"Heh, the way you say that sounds so weird for some reason, but I can't say why…" Zoro mused, shrugging as he followed Ranma.

The two of them started to race over the rooftops, dropping into the alleyways only when Luffy's limited Kenbunshoku haki spotted anyone nearby. Halfway to the wharf, however, this sense caused Luffy to skid to a halt staring around her.

Seeing his captain tense up, Zoro immediately slid to a halt too, his hands falling to his swords as he tried to figure out what his captain was looking for. "What's wrong Luffy?"

"Someone's here, someone strong. His presence is almost washing out everything else I can sense, blanketing the entire damn island!" Luffy growled, shivering. _Oh kami-sama, please don't let it be ji-kure! I_ _ **so**_ _do not want to have to deal with him right now!_

His captain's words had not put Zoro at ease at all, his scowl deepening as he tensed, ready for action. Despite that, however when the voice spoke it surprised both of them. "Inherited will. Though the will you've inherited is not one I would have chosen, the entire world will no doubt hear of your declaration soon enough."

Both Luffy and Zoro turned toward the voice, crouching as if for battle. There on the same rooftop as the two of them was a man where a moment ago there hadn't been one. He was tall, as tall as Smoker though not quite as wide across the shoulders and was dressed in a cloak which obscured most of his features until a lightning bolt lit up the sky. This allowed his face to be seen. It was sharp and angular, marked with black hair and tattoos down one side.

Zoro's scowl slowly dissipated, keeping one eye on the newcomer as he saw Luffy relaxing somewhat. "You know this guy?"

"Meh, just looks like some tattooed male skank to me. Sorry dude, I'm not buying, and even if I were you're the wrong gender."

"Harsh," the man replied dryly, shaking his head while another blast of thunder echoed in the distance. "I see your tongue hasn't gotten any less sharp in the years since we last met, Luffy. You would think you'd be somewhat nicer to your father."

As Zoro gaped, Luffy replied sharply. "Being the sperm donor part of the equation does not make you my father! You left me with **ji-kure**!"

Dragon paused, then shook his head, knowing what kind of training hell his father would have inflicted on Luffy. "Point. Still, my help during the Grey Terminal incident should have won me some respect."

"It did. I'm not trying to cave in your face this time, am I?" Luffy replied, shaking his head. "What do you want, Oyaji? And before you ask, no, I'm not going to join the Revolutionary Army. I might hate the WG, but that doesn't mean I'm willing to go to war with all of their puppet governments."

Zoro's eyebrows rose in surprise, but he said nothing realizing that this was both a family thing and not something he cared about one way or another. He owed Luffy his life, and had promised to follow him so long as Luffy didn't get in the way of his dream. Pirate, marine, revolutionary: it didn't matter to Zoro. The only comment he made was a muttered, "Good gods, what the hell is up with your family, Luffy?"

"I would not wish to try to persuade you again on that. I was here to see you off on your journey, not try to change your path," Dragon replied, smiling faintly, an odd expression on his stern face. "Go forth, Luffy, and make your mark on this world, both seen and unseen!"

Luffy stared at Dragon for a long moment then shook his head. "Well, thanks for that needlessly complicated way of saying good luck, Oyaji. Come on, Zoro, let's find the others. See you some other time, you tattooed manwhore."

With that the two pirates turned and leaped away over the rooftops, leaving Dragon watching them in silence, a large sweatdrop appearing on his head. "Hurtful…"

 **OOOOOOO**

Luffy and Zoro found that the rest of the crew had begun to punt their new ship out of port. The two ships to either side seemed not to be crewed at present, and Luffy laughed as she and Zoro took to the air, using Geppo to cross the intervening distance, landing beside the four tangerine trees that had been transported onto the ship. They were still in their containers for now, but Luffy suspected that Nami had already made plans on where she wanted to put them permanently, judging by the number of bags marked 'soil' that stood beside them. Zoro quickly moved to take up one of the long poles opposite Sanji moving the heavy schooner out from between the ships to either side, while Luffy moved to join Makino where she was readying a small antipersonnel cannon set on a small pintle mount along one side with two others.

The schooner had twelve large cannons to either side for real broadside punch. The pintle mounts could add to it, but were more dangerous when aiding in boarding actions loaded with grapeshot. Right now they were tilted as far up as they could go with all of them loaded with solid shot.

"What are we aiming at?"

"We want to shoot up the rigging of the other marine ships; that'll stop them from coming after us quickly," Makino replied, her voice nearly lost in a peal of thunder. "Nami already removed the tarps and opened up the base's supply of gunpowder to the elements. The towers won't be able to fire on us, but the ships would still be a threat if they were quick enough to catch us between here and Reverse Mountain!"

Luffy nodded, but instead of helping the green haired woman she leaped into the air shouting, "Rankyaku!" A wind blade appeared, slicing into the main mast of the galleon to one side, followed by several more all around, destroying the rigging of both the marine galleon and the schooner on their new ship's other side. Landing, Luffy smirked at Makino. "Was that what you wanted?"

"No one likes a braggart Luffy-chan," Makino said with a pout, turning away.

"Riiiight, forgot you could do that," Nami said, slapping her forehead with the palm of her hand. "Guess we didn't really need to worry about sabotaging the ships more than that."

"Meh, if I was too tired from fighting with Smokey your planning would have worked just as well, gals. Don't worry about it. For now, though, let's get out of here."

The wind caught the schooner's sails the moment they were unfurled, pushing the ship away quickly, and Nami whistled appreciatively as Sanji handled the rigging with Zoro and Luffy helping aloft. "Wow, this ship handles like a dream! Even with just the five of us we can handle this ship no problem."

"I like that its armed damned well for its size," Zoro grunted. "But seriously, stealing a ship from the marines? If Smoker didn't hate your guts already he sure will now."

"An angry rival is a predictable one. Besides, I doubt any extra insult we add will matter much to the injury of breaking his perfect record. That and beating him down like I did," Luffy replied dryly, shaking her head. "Though, remind me later to do something about the mark on the sails. Sailing under false colors is against the rules even for pirates."

The crew worked on for several minutes at various tasks, moving their new ship out of the harbor. Thanks to Nami's bit of sabotage to the defensive towers' gunpowder supplies, they weren't even fired upon, and the ship sailed out of port and into the heart of the storm, riding the wind like a dream.

The storm continued for a few hours, but the crew handled it easily, and when the rain and wind began to die down they were able to let the ship have its head for a time, heading towards Reverse Mountain a bare few hours in the distance. There was something important they had to do before they reached the entrance to the Grand Line, however. It was called a crossing-the-line ceremony, a pirate tradition that went way back.

"You know, this normally involves a lot more barrels of ale and groups of the crew gathered around each. I don't think I've ever heard of a crew small enough to use just one barrel," Sanji said as he set the barrel of ale down. It was a full barrel: the act of wasting 'grog' was part of the ceremony, indicating the crew's willingness to sacrifice to achieve their ends.

"That just shows how awesome you all are," Luffy said, grinning at her crew who smirked back at her. Sanji set the barrel down near the prow of the ship, and all of them circled around it.

Makino, as the oldest there, went first, raising one leg, placing her foot's heel down on the top of the barrel. "To find Shanks and give him a piece of my mind!"

Laughing Nami went next. "To make a map of the whole world!"

Sanji smirked around his sodden cigarette, his large, metal reinforced shoe tapping into place beside Nami's. "To find All Blue!"

"To become the greatest swordsman in the world!" Zoro stated, grinning into the rain and wind, his foot thumping down onto the barrel as the others balanced there around it.

"To be the Pirate King!" Luffy set her own foot tapping down next to his first mate's on one side and Makino's on the other. "To the Grand Line!" She roared, and his/her crew replied with a shout, their legs lifting in unison to crash down onto the top of the barrel, shattering it and sending ale flying every which way.

 **OOOOOOO**

"What do you mean, they escaped!?" Smoker snarled, grabbing the luckless junior officer who had just reported to him. "I thought you had found the ship they came in on and that they had sold the damn thing! And what the hell happened to the tower guns?!"

"The…the gunpowder for the guns was left uncovered, sir. No one knows how that happened, but all the gunpowder was exposed to the elements when the rain began," the man replied, arms flailing to either side as he tried to reply to his commanding officer despite being hoisted a foot into the air at present in the man's grip. "A, and they also stole another ship…"

"Damn pirates, they'll steal anything if it isn't nailed down. Send someone to tell the owners they'll be reimbursed when we catch up to the pirates. What kind of ship did they steal?"

"Um, it was a schooner rig sir…" the hapless man replied.

"Huh, strange. I didn't think there were any…" Smoker trailed off, dropping the man and glaring down at him. "Are you telling me that those damn pirates stole one of **our** ships, Lieutenant!?"

"I, um, I'm afraid so sir!" The man said, bracing to attention and saluting in an effort to somehow appease the trouble he saw brewing in his superior's eyes. "The ships were of course guarded, but most of the base's marine forces had been pulled out to join in the cordon around the execution courtyard. We are still missing three squads worth of troopers even now. Those men that had been left have been found tied up and unconscious, but not injured overmuch, sir!"

Smoker snarled, shaking his head, wincing as his injuries pained him. The Rankyaku attacks on his smoke form might not have added up to much, but the injuries from his own damn jutte hurt like blazes. "Very well, we'll have to go after them, then. I refuse to let a pirate with that much skill, that much ambition, through here on my watch!"

"B, but sir, your orders are to remain on station here in Logue Town and…"

"Since when do I listen to my damn superiors about that shit?!" Smoker bellowed.

"More importantly, they also destroyed the rigging on the other two marine ships in port, sir," Tashigi said quietly from the doorway. Her world view had been somewhat rattled by Luffy's words during the confrontation. Smoker's refusal to outright deny them had been telling, and she had heard of the Grey Terminal fire too, though how it had started was a mystery to her until now. While weakened by his wounds Smoker had admitted that the fire might have been started by the ruling family. The fact the pirates hadn't killed any of the marines they faced was also a point in their favor, adding Luffy's words some extra weight, to say nothing of Zoro's.

"Damn it!" Smoker howled, before puffing on three cigars at once to calm himself. "Send a call out to the nearest marine ship! Tell them to get here on the double; I'm commandeering their vessel and going after those pirates!"

 **End chapter**

* * *

Hope you liked how the fight went. At this point remember that Smoker relies almost entirely on his logia power and his jutte. We also haven't seen the effect of Rankyaku on his smoke form, so I made it somewhat irritating and painful, but not nearly as much as losing his own jutte at Ranma's current power with the move.

As to stealing a marine ship - I've gone to some pains to show the _Bastard_ was no real long term solution. I also intend to show Ranma and co. acting very differently at times. Stealing from marines and the rich as they go along is just one way of many they will be different.


	7. Chapter 7

Name ain't Oda or Takahashi.

This has been betaed by Michael and Hiryo… this means there shouldn't be very many small mistakes. Here's hoping anyway. Anyway, on with the show.

* * *

 **Chapter 7: New Friends and New Enemies**

Though it was still raining several hours later, the schooner they had appropriated in Logue Town sliced through wind and wave like the shark of the sea it was supposed to be, a marked contrast to the _Inglorious Bastard_. Wearing rain coats, Nami and Sanji remained outside, with Nami at the wheel and Sanji working the sails at her orders at need. Since both the topsail and the foresail had self-tacking rigs, this was rather easy even for a single person, as long as they were strong and fast enough, which Sanji was. As for the others, Makino was putting her and Nami's possessions away in the first mate's quarters, while Luffy and Zoro were exploring the ship, not having had time before they left port to look at their new acquisition.

Unlike the _Bastard_ _,_ the schooner had only two decks to it, excluding the captain's quarters which was in the raised afterdeck of the ship. The second deckwas devoted to its broadside cannons, supply lockers, and pantry. On the first deck was a very small brig, a hospital bay, a first officer's cabin, the crew's living quarters, and a small mess hall. It also had an equally small communication room.

That room was where Luffy and Zoro finished their tour. "What should we do with that?" Zoro asked, glancing at the Den-Den Mushi in marine colors set on the small table against the inner wall. Next to it was the box which held the communication group that Sanji had bought.

"Keep it," Luffy said with a shrug. Luffy was still in his female form, seeing no point to changing back since rain was still falling outside. "We might be able to use it to listen in on marine communications in the area we're sailing through. But we should probably remove the speaker portion, just in case."

With that accomplished the two of them left to head to the crew quarters. This room was marked on both sides by rows of bunk beds, as well as several hammocks tied in the center of the room to wooden pillars, the portion of the masts which had been sunk into the ship's deck. There were at least thirty-two bunks and eight hammocks, which made sense: though the ship wouldn't need nearly that large a crew even in harsh conditions to sail the ship, this was after all a fighting vessel. The guns would need specially trained crews and gun deck officers. Some crew would be trained to work with the bosun to repair damage and evacuate the injured to the medical bay, while other crewmen, the ones trained most to be pure sailors, would see to the sails and steering.

Looking over the space for a moment as well as the two large pillars stuck in the center Luffy shook his head. "Considering what those pillars are, I'm afraid this area just won't do for a training area. Pity."

Moving through the crew quarters they found a small shower area at the far end which had four simple stalls without any doors to them. Around a small walkway at the end of this was an equally small area with six small mirrors and a long basin. "Nami isn't going to like this, nor is Makino," Luffy mused them looked back over his shoulder at the bunk beds. "Okay let's take apart half of those beds. We can use the wood from them to make doors for these stalls, though we should probably also get a lock on this door. The others we can change into at least twin or possibly even queen-size beds for everyone else."

"What about the orange haired witch's trees?" Zoro asked. "Not that I care but wouldn't she prefer us to plant them somewhere?"

"That can wait a bit, being in those pots won't hurt them for a few days, and I'd bet she and Makino would prefer better and more private showers to that." Luffy replied. "Besides, we don't have any idea yet where to put them."

Zoro nodded, and the two of them went to work removing the bedding, taking apart the bunk beds. Then Luffy used the slats from underneath the bunks to create two doors, backing them up with larger pieces of wood from the sides of the bed after Zoro had cut them in half along their length. While Luffy was nailing the doors together, Zoro removed the intervening wall between each of the stalls. Once they were finished, the crew had two larger than average shower stalls with two primitive doors leading into them.

Luffy frowned then, bouncing slightly as he sat on the pile of mattresses. "Yeah these suck. I mean I'd prefer a futon to these things; they aren't soft, nor do they have much support. How the hell do marines sleep on these things? I'm used to roughing it, but not if I don't have to."

"Pity you couldn't carry a few mattresses in that ki space thing of yours," Zoro said with a chuckle.

Luffy laughed too, shrugging his shoulders. "Sorry, never thought of it really. Still, we've got enough of these mattresses to make beds for everyone that are four or so deep, so they'll do for now." He turned away from Zoro to gaze at the remaining bunk beds, since they had only taken apart six of them. That left twenty-six, which gave Luffy more than enough wood to make new beds for them all. Though that would take much longer than the doors, which were a relatively easy project.

"Where'd you learn how to do so much carpentry?" Zoro asked.

"I first learned some of it while on Ji-Kure's ship before he dropped me off with Makino for the first time," Luffy said with a shrug, though of course that wasn't really the case. He had first learned carpentry like this as part of Martial Arts Construction as Ranma.

"I also did odd jobs around the bar for Makino. I'm not an expert or anything, but I'm good with my hands," Luffy said with somewhat false modesty. "For now though, let's just move the mattresses into piles in the other rooms, then take the beds apart and separate the wood into different piles."

Zoro nodded, and the two of them bent to their work once more.

About an hour after they had begun that project, Sanji poked his head into the guest quarters just as they were finishing with the last few bunks. "Hey shitheads, Nami-chan wants us all up on deck."

Luffy nodded and the three went up on deck where they found Nami and Makino waiting for them. Nami nodded forward, holding up a spyglass which she had bought in Logue Town. It was both of a better quality and more durable than the one she had been using up until then. "We're within sight of the Red Line!"

Luffy and the others turned in that direction, and stared at what was coming up over the horizon. Dominating the horizon from one end to another was a wall, a monstrously huge mountain of stone which was called the Red Line. It was a literal mountain of rock, so tall the top couldn't be seen even from this far out, and obscured by clouds. It was so wide it acted like a ring of islands along the equator of the world, working with the two Calm Belts and the Grand Line itself to separate the world into the four oceans. Up top on of that massive escarpment was the Holy Land Mariejoa, the largest and most powerful nation in the world, seat of the World Government.

Against that backdrop, barely visible from this distance with the spyglass, was a stream of water that was going upwards. "Reverse Mountain…" Luffy breathed, smiling widely, handing the spyglass to Sanji who looked into it in turn.

There were two ways you could get into the Grand Line. One way as to brave the Calm Belt, a wide band of ocean where there were no wind or currents, and which was further dominated by massive sea beasts. The other way was to use Reverse Mountain, where a stream of cold pressure somehow pushed water up the mountain and then back down into the Grand Line.

Luffy and Makino had explained the phenomenon before, but Sanji and Zoro still stood gaping at it, as did Luffy, who, although knowing about it, had never actually seen it before. She'd been asleep the time that Garp had taken him from the Grand Line into East Blue. Even Nami looked a little askance as the stream became close enough to see with the naked eye.

But her mind quickly turned to more important things. "We're coming in on the mountain at the right angle, but the wind's picking up from the Northeast, so I want all hands on the deck for this bit. I want one of you boys on the wheel, preferably you Luffy. You're the strongest."

"We have something more important to do first though," Luffy said seriously. Everyone turned to her and she smirked, pointing up the crow's nest. "We have to hang our flag. No pirate in their right mind is going to ever enter the Grand Line without already having their pirate flag flying."

The rest of the crew smiled at that, and Makino excused herself for a moment. She came back with a rolled up piece of fabric, which she quickly displayed to them all. "I worked on this a few years ago when I realized that Luffy not only was going to always follow his dream, but that I was going to go with him. She paused smirking over at Luffy. "Well that and the fact that he has no artistic skills whatsoever."

"You don't have to be mean about it," Luffy said, pouting a little even as she looked at the flag with approval. It was a simple design, with a straw hat set on its side in the background and a smiling skull marked by a ponytail in the foreground. "I suppose we can add a few things for each of our crewmen at some point. Like put a tangerine in one corner and so forth? Make the flag a sign of our all being in this together?"

While Nami smiled approval of the idea, Zoro nodded. "Three swords in the corner for me I suppose."

"That works, but what will we do for Sanji? A curly brow, maybe?" Luffy asked innocently.

"You wound me with those words Luffy-chan!" Sanji said, then caught himself and shuddered, staring with something like irritation at the redheaded girl for a moment before turning away. His face looked as if he was close to throwing up, but at the same time there were actual tears in his eyes and he was muttering under his breath.

"Wow, it really is a psychosis," Nami murmured to Makino as they stared at the chef.

"Agreed. I don't think he can actually help himself," Makino said with what Nami would categorize as amused pity. "Still, funny for us though."

Luffy scaled the topmast like a monkey, hanging the flag on top of the crow's nest before leaping down, landing lightly. "Now we're ready." She grinned at Nami, who gave her a thumbs-up and began to shout out orders as Luffy moved to the wheel.

As the redhead did so, Nami continued to spout out orders. "We're going to have to keep to the center of the passage, let the current do the work for us, but if we lose our way or are pushed to the side by the wind we'll have a devil of a time recovering before we smash into the walls." She looked seriously around the rest of the crew. "This is going to be tough and extremely dangerous, so when I say jump I want you to do it!"

"Shouldn't one of us be ready with one of the oars just in case?" Zoro asked.

Nami thought for a bit, then looked over to Sanji and Makino, then up into the sails, reading the weather for a moment. "All right, that's a good idea. Grab one of the oars and keep it ready, but you'll still have to help with the rigging until that's needed."

By this point the ship had brought them within sight of the base of the Reverse Mountain stream, and Nami's prediction of their being spot on proved to be accurate. They had a bit of a scare at one point just as the stream's current grabbed their boat and began to push them up the mountain and the wind changed direction on them a little faster than Nami had anticipated. But thanks to Zoro's quick reaction with the oar and Luffy's strong hands on the wheel, the schooner quickly righted itself. A second later, Nami ordered the crew to furl the sails and the current grabbed them, pushing them up the mountain as smooth as could be.

"YAHOOO!" Luffy howled, grinning as the ship picked up speed heading **UP** a mountain while she and the others all cheered and shouted congratulations to one another.

However, none of the crew had time to look around them. Even Nami, who had pitched in to furl the sails for a second, didn't notice that as they had been closing on Reverse Mountain another ship had appeared on the horizon behind them.

 **OOOOOOO**

Usopp was in the crow's nest of the _Little Top_ as the ship moved through the storm towards Reverse Mountain. _Little Top_ was a temporary name for a temporary ship, and rather plain in comparison to its current captain's previous ships. It was still the same ship Alvida had shown up with at the marine base, but all of its markings had been removed before they even arrived at Logue Town. With its cannons pulled in and covered by flaps which blended in with the rest of the ship, the _Little Top_ looked like a simple merchant ship. Except for the sails, anyway, which the large crew had switched out the moment they were away from Logue Town, and the pirate flags. At the moment it was flying Buggy's mark from the mainmast, and Alvida's from the prow.

But Usopp wasn't concentrating on the look of his own ship at the moment. Instead, he was staring through his spyglass at the ship whose wake he had noticed a few hours back. They weren't actually following the stolen marine ship per se, though Buggy was rather confused about what Roronoa Zoro, who had helped the bounty hunter girl take out his original crew, was doing as a pirate now rather than with 'Bounty Hunter Ranko.'

That wasn't the reason they were going in the same direction as the former marine schooner, though. Buggy wanted to return to the Grand Line, and this was the only real way to get there from East Blue. Buggy figured that if he could hide in among other larger bounties, he might be able to wait out the heat from the massacre he'd been framed for.

Usopp, of course, couldn't be happier. He was chasing his dream of being a great warrior of the sea, and going to the Grand Line was part of that dream. But right now, there was something else on his mind. "Err, captain Buggy, what did that bounty hunter that captured you and Alvida look like again?" he shouted, not turning from staring ahead of them.

"We've been over this," Buggy growled from below, where he was manning the wheel. He had ridden Reverse Mountain several times already, and wasn't about to trust anyone else at the wheel of his ship, no matter how temporary. That, and their crew didn't actually have a navigator at present. "She had red hair, was on the short side, dressed like a tomboy almost, and had somewhat broad shoulders. Why?"

"Well, there's a redhead that looks sort of like that on that ship out there."

"What!?" Buggy shouted. An instant later his head detached at the neck, sailing up towards Usopp. Usopp twitched at the sight, not having gotten used to Buggy's Devil Fruit yet, but willingly held up the eyeglass and the head moved into position to stare through it. "That's her! Is she in cahoots with that pirate crew? Come to think of it… That Luffy character did fight a bit like her…" Buggy mused to himself as he began to descend. "Are they brother and sister maybe?"

Once his head was once more where it should be, Buggy shouted at his crew to get them moving faster and to run out the cannons. "Vengeance will be mine!"

Alvida came out on deck dressed in a long cloak, frowning up at Buggy. "What's going on?" When Buggy explained, Alvida's eyes widened. "Wait, if those two are working together that means we might want to rethink this."

"What do you mean?" Buggy asked angrily. "I thought you wanted revenge just as much as I did."

"I do," Alvida said coolly, staring up into the sky where the storm showed no sign of letting up. While the Sube-Sube fruit made the rain run off her body, her clothing was still getting damp, and she was eager to head back inside. She looked around at the crew, a mix of her own crew, a few survivors from Buggy's original crew, and all the surviving Black Cat pirates except for the hypnotist, who had apparently escaped from the marine base during Buggy and Kuro's duel. A lot of them were terrified at the idea of heading into the Grand Line, but weren't willing to try mutiny just yet.

Realizing they shouldn't be arguing before the crew like this, Alvida gestured over her shoulder to the officers' quarters. Buggy nodded and followed her, and Alvida continued her argument the moment they were alone once more. "That doesn't mean I'm one to get stupid about it. We saw that Luffy character outfight a Marine Commodore. We both know how good Ranko is, and we also saw Zoro's obvious skill against the marines and your old crew too. We can't assume we could win in a boarding action."

"Then we'll blow them up flashily from long-range," Buggy growled. "I'll back my special Buggy Balls against any regular cannon ball any day."

"While trying to stop them from boarding us?" Alvida asked archly. "Luffy and Ranko at least can both use that Geppo move, can't they? And that doesn't even consider Zoro or this Black Leg Sanji who's supposed to be on their crew. Besides, that's a Marine schooner out there. It might not have as many cannons in each broadside as us, but it's fast. If we don't take out their rigging right away, it could dance rings around us at range."

Buggy frowned, tugging at his big red nose for a moment thinking, but eventually he had to nod agreement. "You're right. The _Little Top_ isn't a match for a real ship of war like that as long as it's handled well. And if they know Geppo, and Luffy at least knows Rankyaku, they might be able to defend themselves from our cannon fire anyway."

He nodded again more brusquely. "All right, we need more information about them and their abilities at the very least, so we'll keep following them for now. If we're close enough to them, we can still figure out their route even if we're in the Grand Line. Besides, I might be able to gather some more crewmen on a few islands in Paradise. I…"

Buggy paused, looking around him, his eyes narrowing in surprise. Then he raced out of the cabin room with Alvida on his heels, wondering what had gone wrong. He stared around him as he burst out onto the deck, and almost ran over a crewman who had been about to fetch them. "Err, sir, ma'am, we've been sort of, well, becalmed. The storm just died out all of a sudden."

Where a moment ago the wind and rain had been hurling them around, now the ocean was calm, the storm gone. Buggy groaned, realizing what had happened. Reverse Mountain was within a few leagues of the other way to enter the Grand Line, and if you weren't careful the current and the waves could blow you straight into it. "You flashy morons, this isn't just a calm zone! We've entered the Calm Belt!"

"What's that?" Alvida asked, not having heard the term before.

"It's a zone separating the Grand Line from the other four oceans," Buggy replied between shouting orders at the crew to break out the oars. "There's no current and no wind here, **ever**. And it's also…"

Buggy broke off as the ocean all around them erupted and massive forms appeared there, soon towering over the ship. "A breeding ground for flashy huge Sea Kings!" The nearest beast opened its mouth to roar and charge the boat and Buggy groaned. "Oh flashy fuck me…"

 **OOOOOOO**

Whooping and hollering, Luffy balanced on the prow of the as-yet-unnamed ship as it zoomed up Reverse Mountain, the current and the wind behind them now pushing the schooner along at a speed he had never expected a ship to be able to reach. The view wasn't all that great, of course. The mist was heavy in the air, and sheer rock walls rose high above them on either side, so high that even if she'd been in the crow's nest or bouncing above the ship via Geppo, she wouldn't have been able to see the top. Even so, Luffy was eager for her first view of the Grand Line.

With the wheel tied in place, Zoro and the others had joined the redhead, and all five of them whooped and hollered as they zoomed first up, then rapidly down the mountain. Even with the sunlight beating on them on this side, and no rain to speak of, the fog was pretty heavy as they descended back down. Still, all of them were ebullient at this, their first step into the Grand Line.

Then Nami cocked her head. "What's that?"

Luffy cocked her head in turn, staring around at the others. "Some kind of animal call?"

It was a deep, lowing sort of noise, reverberating around the mountain pass and off the water. "It sounds sort of like a foghorn," Sanji muttered, cupping a cigarette against the wind as he lit it. "Albeit deeper. It would have to be a huge foghorn to be that loud."

Nami stared ahead of them, her eyes going almost comically wide as a huge black object appeared out of the mist ahead of them, dead center in the pass. "W, what the heck is that!?" Everyone else turned and stared as Nami panicked, running back to the wheel, untying it, and staring at the object and then to either side, trying to see if there was maybe room for them to somehow dodge the thing.

"That almost looks like a giant black whale," Luffy murmured, cocking her head thoughtfully to one side.

"Whatever it is, it is in our way isn't it?" Makino said just as calmly. "This ship is rather sturdy, but if that whale is as tough as its size indicates, it could smash our entire ship."

"Drop our anchor?" Luffy asked as behind her both Zoro and Sanji panicked, the one staring with his eyes wide open, and the other racing around shouting how he would save the ladies if it killed him.

"We would probably rip out the anchor at the speed we're going," Makino replied, shaking her head.

"Would you two at least panic a little bit!?" Nami shouted shrilly from where she had abandoned the wheel to race up to them, her hands waving wildly. Luffy winced. She liked Nami, but she needed to get better at rolling with the punches in moments like this.

She patted Nami's shoulder once, then leaped into the sky, hopping up higher and higher so she could see around the giant black mountain of a whale. It definitely was a whale; its mouth was open and making that noise now. However, Ranma also saw something else: a small lighthouse perched on a tiny outcrop of rock sticking out from the mountain. "Zoro! Sanji!" Luffy shouted, bouncing back down. "Give me all the rope we have aboard, and the extra anchor chain!"

All the spare rope aboard the ship was quickly gathered along with the spare anchor chain as the ship sped on its course down towards the giant whale. Luffy was quickly back in the air, with the rope circling her shoulders and waist, the end of it connected to the chain which Sanji quickly tied in place next to the original chain. Moving almost too fast for even Zoro to follow, Luffy bounced through the air towards the lighthouse. Throwing the rope around it several times, Luffy then began to pull, pulling the ship to the side slowly. Too slowly, Luffy suddenly realized, but it was moving.

Grasping what Luffy was trying to do, Nami turned to the rest of the crew. "To the aft side cannons! Fire the cannons! The impetus of that and Luffy pulling on that rope might let us drag against the side of the canyon and pull us to a stop!"

Sanji and Zoro raced down into the belly of the ship, each of them starting from a different end. They then lit the cannons, shouting, "I bet I'll light more of them off than you will!" "No you moron, I'll light more than you!"

"God damnit, this isn't the time for a dick beating contest!" Makino shouted as she lit up the guns on one of the small pintle mounts. Nearby Nami lit the other one.

A second later the cannons fired in a long stream of fire, pushing the ship off course in the same direction Luffy's rope was pulling them. The combination worked, and the ship slammed into the side of the canyon slowly scraping and screeching to a stop as the rocks of the crevasse crunched into the schooner's side. It ripped out several of the cannons on that side, crushing them or hurling them out of their runs. Inside Splinters flew, like the ship had just taken a few cannon ball hits of its own. But it worked, and no one was injured, despite several close calls.

Nami came the closest to being injured only dodging a few splinters by the skin of her teeth. And she would have been hit by one in her thigh but Sanji, who had raced back up on deck, smacked it aside with a quick kick. He stood between her and the port where the splinters were coming from, his legs flashing. "You shitty splinters, you'll not mar the perfection that is Nami-chan, not as long as I'm around!"

Breathing out a sigh of relief, Luffy wiped her forehead, staring down at her hands which were quite sore at present, though if Luffy hadn't toughened his/her body they might well have been rubbed raw. "Well, it was a nice ship while it lasted, I suppose," she mused, shaking her head as she turned, staring at the damage done to their new ship.

Taking to the air once more, Luffy started to make her way back over to her crew, just as Sanji shouted. "Oy, you Shitty whale! You almost hurt Nami-chan!" He shouted, leaping of the prow of the ship and kicking the whale in the eye.

"Sanji!" Nami shouted, while Luffy just stared blankly from her current position in the air.

Suddenly the eye twisted, staring down at the ship. Then the whale fell back slightly, and its maw opened swiftly swallowing the ship whole.

"You have got to be kidding!" Luffy groaned, pulling back from where she had been about to dive towards the ship. "Hey, Moby Dick! Let my ship and crew go!"

Ignoring him, the whale backed up away from the Red Line and began to dive. "Oh hell, no!" Luffy shouted, landing and slamming a foot into the things back right behind its blowhole. It moaned a little in pain and she shouted again, "Let them go!"

The redhead was about to use a Rankyaku on the whale, but then stopped and stared. Halfway down the whale's length from where he was and where the back of it was slowly disappearing into the water was a hatch set into the whale's back.

"You know," Luffy said to herself, "I thought I was ready for the craziness of the Grand Line. But I did not see this coming." With a brief laugh to herself, Luffy raced towards the hatch, opening it and then closing it behind her just in time as the whale submerged itself totally.

Inside, the hatch led into a passage lit along its length by small, contained gas lights. That was as much as Luffy could tell before the corridor tilted wildly in conjunction with the whale's movements. For normal people, the sensation of the whale sinking into the ocean then diving straight down would've thrown them off their balance, but Luffy was anything but normal. Instead of losing her footing and falling out of control, she bounced down the corridor like a bouncy ball on steroids, moving down the corridor with ease.

By Luffy's estimate, she had travelled through at least half of the creature without seeing any offshoots from the passage. "Whoever made this passage had a lot of time on his hands. And a lot of oil…" At that point Luffy stopped and stared at one of the little lights, then around at the whale. "Whale fat right," she groaned, smacking her forehead.

A few minutes later, Luffy still hadn't seen any signs telling her she was going the right direction or any offshoots, but she did see two people kneeling in the center of the passageway. They both had large, bazooka-like hand guns in front of them and were loading them as they talked to one another.

One was a blond young man looking a little older than Luffy, with an ungainly sort of body wearing a crown on his head, hose, doublet, and a good, rich looking jacket. He also had the number 9 written, or possibly tattooed, on each of his cheeks.

The other was a younger looking woman, who had her hair done up in a rather severe looking ponytail style, and was wearing a corset with light and dark blue stripes going around it in a diagonal pattern, offsetting the aqua of her jacket that she wore over it. The clothing made her look something like a vamp to Luffy's eyes, and the way the hair tie pulled her hair back gave her an aloof, haughty appearance.

They looked up in shock as Luffy came into view, and the man raised his giant cannon towards Luffy, but Luffy halted her pace, standing on the ceiling using an old trick from 'his' life as Ranma to stick there like a spider. While Luffy wanted to keep many of his/her ki techniques a secret, this one was just too darn useful.

"Excuse me," the redhead said, bowing her head politely. "But would this passage lead to this whale's stomach?"

Thrown off by Luffy's blasé attitude the two nodded dully. "Oh, err, yes," the woman stammered, pointing past her shoulder. "It's that way. The corridor leads right to it."

"Thank you," Luffy said again, politely. Then, without another word, she hopped over them heading in that direction.

Behind her the two strangers looked at one another. "Mr. 9, did that just happen?"

"If by that you mean an overly polite young woman with a straw hat on her head was bouncing along this corridor like a madwoman, then yes," the blond haired crown-wearer replied. Then he shook himself. "But never mind about that, we have to get this job over with! We can't allow that old man to stop us again. Whiskey Peak needs this whale meat!"

"Right, Mr. 9!" Miss Wednesday said, getting up quickly from where she had been crouching. "In that case, we should probably follow her, shouldn't we?"

"Indeed, and perhaps we can even use her. Unless she's after the meat as well," Mr. 9 said after a moment. Both of them looked at one another, then raced after Luffy but she had already reached the end of the passage.

There was a small hatch like the one that had led into the passage, and Luffy opened it to the outside. Or what she thought was the outside, at first. "…Okay, someone had way too much time on his hands," she murmured, standing there for a moment and staring out around her at the sky.

The inside of the whale stomach was a large cavern, which Luffy had been expecting. What she had not been expecting was for it to be painted as if the sides of the cavern were the outside world, complete with birds here and there, clouds, and even a sun in the distance. The sun was actually providing light; a giant oil light of some kind was stuck there and radiating both heat and light. And floating on the gastric juices below was a small island, complete with a tropical tree, house, and an old man sitting out on a lounge chair.

In front of it was their ship, resting at anchor currently, and Luffy could even spot Makino and Nami holding the two other boys back from attacking the old man for some reason. As Luffy watched, Makino pulled away from Zoro, whipping out her pistol and shooting between the older man's ankles where he lay out on the lounge chair before he could move. "Enough with the running jokes!" she shouted, and Luffy blanched. _If Makino's self-control has eroded that badly, maybe it was a good thing I wasn't with them originally._

Growling around his cigarette, Sanji turned away from the drama in front of him and was the first to spot Luffy standing in the opening in the side of the stomach. "All right there, captain?" he shouted, getting everyone else's attention as he waved. "For a first taste of the Grand Line, this kind of thing takes some beating! And here I thought your curse was unusual."

Luffy laughed, both in answer to Sanji's joke, and in relief at seeing her crew all right. She kicked out onto the air, hopping towards the ship slowly as she took in the rest of the view, only now noticing the dead squid stuck through with several harpoons lying next to the island. "The Grand Line: where even people like me can feel normal!"

The crew laughed, some with relief at seeing their captain all right, some with genuine amusement, while the old man looked on with narrowed eyes. "Geppo? They don't look like Marines, but that, and that ship…"

Just then they were interrupted by the two individuals Luffy had passed before sticking their heads out of the corridor. At the sight of them past Luffy, the old man groaned, swiftly getting up from his chair. "Those two!"

Luffy turned to look at them as they raised their cannons. "Too slow, old man! Fire, Miss Wednesday! Kill the whale!" shouted the man.

"Right, Mr. 9!" the woman answered, both of them ignoring Luffy and her ability to walk on air, concentrating on their target.

With that, they fired, and the old man raced forward. Reaching the end of the island he lept up to interpose his body between the cannonballs and the side of the whale's stomach.

Luffy frowned, but nonetheless quickly shot out a Rankyaku at the gastric juices below. The green juices erupted up into the path of the two cannonballs, which exploded right before they would hit the old man. The old man, with a surprised expression visible on his face, continued his leap falling quickly into the green goop below.

"Mr. 9, she really is going to interfere with us it seems!" said the blue haired girl.

"Indeed, Miss Wednesday. Let's deal with her first, and then the old man again!"

With that, the man wearing the crown, whose name was apparently Mr. 9, pulled out two metal bats. One of them separated, the end shooting forward on a chain to try and wrap around Luffy's arm.

Luffy dodged it easily, then bounced forward back into the tunnel, pushing both of them back out of the entrance. Before either could leap back and try to get some more distance, a single punch threw the blond man backwards down the corridor unconscious.

Miss Wednesday quickly took the opportunity to cut at Luffy's arm with tiny crystals on small chains which she had been carrying up her coat's sleeves. She was quick, much quicker than her partner, but it didn't help her at all. Her peacock slashers bounced off Luffy's skin, not penetrating at all.

"Meh," Luffy teased, giving her the evil eye, pulling down one of her eyelids and sticking out her tongue at the blue haired girl. It was childish, Luffy knew, but Luffy still sometimes practiced the 'make them mad, make them stupid' technique from the school of Anything Goes.

And it certainly worked here. The girl actually roared in anger and came at Luffy slashing quickly, but the redhead bounced back out of the corridor. Miss Wednesday followed her, and Luffy smirked, gesturing downwards. "You might want to take care of that first!" she said, even as she dodged under one of the girl's whirling attacks.

At the redhead's words Miss Wednesday looked down, then up at her, and screamed as she plummeted downwards. Before she hit the gastric juices though, Luffy had already caught her by one of her legs, taking a moment to admire the view, since from this angle Luffy could see all of her legs and under her short skirt to the panties beneath, which actually matched the rest of her outfit, striped dark and light blue. _I ain't a pervert, but I ain't blind either, and she was sort of asking to be looked at given her getup._ "Give up?"

Staring down at the juices below her, then up at the redhead, Miss Wednesday nodded meekly. A second later she found herself quickly righted, carried under the other girl's arm. "Who, who are you anyway?"

"Me?" Luffy asked, looking down at her with a smile. "I'm Monkey D. Luffy, the man who will be the next Pirate King!"

The blue-haired girl blinked at that, her brows wrinkling in confusion and then disdain as the last two words registered, shaking her head. _Just another rookie with a bit of mouth and a few fancy tricks. She'll learn the reality about the Grand Line soon enough, though why did she call herself a man?_

After gathering the unconscious Mr. 9, Luffy deposited both on the schooner, then looked up as the old man pulled himself out of the juices, seemingly none the worse for wear. This close Luffy could see that the juices were actually sort of slowly eating into the paint of the ship, and that the island wasn't an island at all, but another ship with a metal bottom to it. _Interesting._

"So," she said after making certain the crew was all right. "One of you to want to tell me what this was about? And you, old man, considering that you've done all this to this 'poor' whale, can we assume that you can at least get our ship out of here?"

"That depends girl, are you a pirate or a marine?" the bespectacled old man with the flower-like hair asked.

"You recognized one of the Rokushiki?" Luffy replied ,one eyebrow rising in surprise as she looked at the old man, while Sanji returned from the inside of the ship with a tea set and a pot of heated water.

"Old Crocus has been around for a long time, girl," the man said pointing a finger at his chest. A chest that was scarred here and there, and still muscular for his advanced years. "I've seen a lot of things."

"You haven't seen everything," the rest of the crew said at once, pointing at Luffy who pouted a little and gave them all the finger.

"Bah, nothing you've seen would shock me!" Crocus replied, smirking at them all.

"You know, I think that was a challenge." So saying, Luffy turned away, taking up a cup of tea and pouring it over herself, changing back into his male form. _Is it a bad sign that I did the crossing the line ceremony and then actually entered the Grand Line in my girl form?_ Luffy thought, then shuddered slightly. _Let's not think about it._

While Crocus didn't seem to respond beyond a slight widening of the eyes, Miss Wednesday first gaped, then stared, her face flushing slightly. Though only part of that was in response to Luffy's actual transformation. The rest had to do with the girl-turned-boy's clothing. The loose black shirt that Luffy had been wearing was now skintight on him, showing off his abs and muscles remarkably well.

Shaking her head quickly, Miss Wednesday pushed past that initial response, pointing at the former redhead in shock. "What, what just happened!?" Then she suddenly scooted away from the tea set that had been set out, staring at it and Sanji and Makino who had been standing nearby. "Get that stuff away from me!"

Now it was Makino's turn to shake her head. "What is it with people and always assuming it's the water that has the magic in it?"

Sanji was looking off into the distance before staring wistfully at his own teacup, a light blush visible on his cheeks. "I wish," he muttered, just loud enough for Luffy to hear it and chuckle.

"I have a sort of curse," Luffy explained, looking at the girl and the man who was merely looking on with the same jaundiced expression. "My theory about it is I must've met up with someone with a Devil Fruit power to change genders at a very young age. But ever since, cold water turns me into a woman, hot water back into a man."

"Which were you born as?" Miss Wednesday asked.

"A guy," Luffy replied flippantly.

"Then…" Miss Wednesday flushed, remembering how Luffy had caught her before and the view he must have had. She glared at the young man angrily, her face extraordinarily red.

A moment later, however, she seemed to gain control of herself, and her haughty look came back. Looking at that from nearby, Makino cocked her head, thoughtfully. For just a moment there the young woman in front of them with the somewhat provocative outfit had acted much younger than she had first appeared.

Ignoring the blue-haired girl and her apparently murderous companion, Nami looked at Crocus, impressed and interested at the old man's lack of a reaction. "Wait, Crocus. If you aren't reacting, does that mean you…" she paused, then frowned moving forward and waving a hand in front of his eyes. He didn't react at all to that either. "Oh, he fainted with his eyes open."

"Does that mean we can bury him?" Zoro asked, growling. "That damn joke of his pissed me off!"

"While I hate to agree with the Marimo, I have to say the idea has some appeal," Sanji groused, taking a long drag from his cigarette as he glared at Crocus. Nearby, Makino nodded too, glaring at the old man.

"I am missing something here," Luffy mused shaking his head. "Anyways, just dunk him back into the green goop. That'll wake him up, I guess."

Sanji and Zoro quickly grabbed a leg each and dunked the old man head first over the side of the ship, a sign of solidarity between the two that made Luffy's eyes widen slightly. An instant later they pulled him back aboard, coughing and gasping.

"All right," Luffy said quickly, clapping his hands. "A quick recap. I've got a curse which was probably given to me by a Devil Fruit user when I was a baby. I, I change into a girl when I am splashed with cold water, but hot water changes me back into a man, which is the gender I was born as. I would rather you keep it to yourselves, and if you don't I will hunt you down, understand?"

"It's a full body change?" Crocus asked, looking a little interested now that he had gotten over his shock. "I've heard of a Devil Fruit that can do that kind of thing, but not instill the actual change into the body of the victim to be affected later with the application of water."

Luffy nodded, lying through his teeth even as he swore vengeance on Urd once more. "Yeah, I have no idea about the water thing either."

"Now are you willing to answer our questions and get us out of here?" Makino asked, gesturing over the side of the ship. "This gunk is already destroying our paint job fair enough, but I don't want to see what it will eventually do to our actual hull."

The older man looked at the still unconscious Mr. 9 and at Miss Wednesday, who was glaring at him now, as well as at the rest of the pirate crew. "They've been after Laboon for a few days now. They want to kill it for its meat for their island, which apparently is having a bit of a famine."

"I would have thought there would be easier ways to gather food then kill a gigantic whale," Makino murmured, but shrugged her shoulders. "Still, to each their own. They are whale hunters then?"

Zoro was frowning, shaking his head. "Killing it from the inside like that, that's a bit much isn't it?"

"It's the only way to go about it, just like it's the only way for me to treat his injuries sometimes," Crocus said with a shrug. "Laboon is simply too big. And if they attacked him from the outside, he'd retaliate."

"That, at least, makes some sense," Luffy said, looking at the two before looking back over at Crocus. "Wait, did you say 'treat?' Does that mean you're a doctor?"

That would be me, boy. Dr. Crocus, for going on fifty years now. I've been looking after…" Crocus broke off as a shuddering went through the whale, and he shook his head irritably. "Dammit, Laboon, not again!"

"What's it doing?" Luffy asked, even as Crocus turned aside, leaping over the side onto his small ship.

Crocus shouted over his shoulder as he entered his house. "He's attacking the Red Line." A second later the ship-island moved to the side of the stomach, where there was a long ladder set into the wall.

The crew watched, no longer noticing Miss Wednesday or Mr. 9, since they were no threat at present. They didn't see Mr. 9 slowly waking up, with Miss Wednesday's hand latching onto his mouth, keeping him quiet. She motioned to the five crewmen, then whispered into his ear. "We'll have to wait at least until these pirates leave. They seem more sympathetic towards Laboon than us."

"Very well, Miss Wednesday. We'll go over the side the instant they're out of the stomach, then," Mr. 9 replied in an equally quiet tone before closing his eyes, feigning unconsciousness once more.

Soon after Crocus disappeared from sight, the shuddering ceased, followed by the juices sloshing back and forth as the whale slowly surfaced.

The old man then returned, and Luffy cupped his hands around his mouth, shouting. "What did you do?"

"I just gave him an infusion of dopamine," the doctor replied calmly as he climbed down. "If I just let Laboon bang his head against the Red Line as often as he wanted, he'd kill himself in short order."

"There's a story there," Luffy murmured, while the man walked across a very neatly made walkway hidden against the background painting to a series of pulleys. Then Luffy watched in amused astonishment as the side of the stomach actually opened, showing a small, but very well-made tunnel out to the rest of the ocean.

With the three boys using oars, the ship turned quickly, making for the entrance, and moments later they were outside, dropping anchor next to the lighthouse Luffy had used earlier. Crocus pulled his own ship up next to theirs, where it was very obviously wallowing in the water violently from side to side even from the minor motions of the ocean in this area.

"Definitely not a seaworthy vessel," Nami said, looking at it. "The construction's pretty incredible though, now that I think about it. Did you do that yourself?" she asked, looking over at the old man.

"No, I got that done for me specially by a carpenter from the Galley-la company of Water Seven," Crocus explained. "I'm a good doctor and a decent miner, but not a ship designer."

Makino frowned thoughtfully, trying to remember where she had heard that name, before snapping her fingers. "That's one of the islands that specializes in shipbuilding. In fact, isn't that the island where the _Oro Jackson_ was built?"

"It was," Luffy said with a nod before Crocus could answer. "At least, that's what Shanks told me once."

"Oh?" Crocus asked, cocking his head. "You know that youngster Shanks?"

"Youngster?" Luffy laughed. "Yeah, I know him, I suppose. Though if you call him that to his face, old man, I would really laugh."

"He might've made something of himself since, but I'll always remember him as a young whipper-snapper of a cabin boy, always palling around with that red-nosed punk" Crocus said, grinning.

"I'm just going to ignore that," Nami muttered, shaking her head with Sanji and Zoro both nodding in unison. The idea of anyone calling one of the Yonkou a whipper-snapper was one they didn't want to contemplate, even if it might have been true in the distant past. "But what's the story with the whale?"

"Oh, and do you have any paint around? We really should do something about the ship." Makino interjected.

"After we repair it," Luffy said dolefully. "We were able to dodge smashing headfirst into Laboon, but that doesn't mean we didn't get out of that entirely unscathed."

Crocus nodded his head towards the lighthouse. "Lots of paint and other stuff in there. If you want to paint your ship you're welcome, consider it my thanks for helping me deal with those two."

Luffy nodded, taking a glance to the side only to discover that their two erstwhile prisoners were gone. "Note to self: always tie up prisoners in the future."

The others turned and frowned, as they too noticed the two prisoners were currently gone. "That's not good," Makino murmured irritably. "Can anyone spot them?"

The others looked around, with Zoro going so far as to search the ship, only to not find them. Luffy in turn climbed to the crow's nest to look around but they were either gone or hidden out of sight.

Crocus shook his head. "It doesn't matter. They aren't inside the whale any longer, and I can block up the entrances for a few days, which means their chances of killing Laboon are gone. If they come back, I'll deal with them."

Makino jumped off the ship heading towards the lighthouse, while Sanji continued to put lunch together. Nami talked to Crocus for a while as Luffy and Zoro surveyed the damage. The paint had been seared off by the whale's gastric juices below the waterline, and the entire port side of the ship had been ripped and torn up. But while a few of the planks had been warped or pushed in on the cannon deck, there was no damage below the waterline. The cannons on that side, however, had taken the brunt of the damage, with half of them becoming warped and twisted or even flattened during the impact. And the interior of the gun deck had also been damaged badly along that side.

Luffy surveyed the damage and decided which of the cannons were too warped to do any good, setting them aside outside the lighthouse. Crocus could do with them whatever he wanted. The cannon port holes were also shattered or simply blocked in places, and clearing them up took several hours. The others chipped in at that point, leaving Crocus to eat his fill of the food Sanji had prepared as they worked. Luffy even turned it into a teaching moment, showing them how he could use his hands rather than a hammer, ordering Sanji and Zoro to either do the same or come up with an equivalent.

The swordsman used his hands, his palm in particular able to take the punishment, but Sanji instead used his feet, his heavy, reinforced shoes easily up to the task. Either was fine by Luffy, and he showed them several other tricks and tools of the carpenter's trade. He didn't know much about building ships, but he could certainly repair one well enough to get by.

For their part, Nami and Makino were busy fetching things, or in Makino's case fetching things and occasionally helping slam nails in. They also worked on moving around the cannons inside the ship, after testing the cannon runs and realizing that most of them hadn't been damaged.

The final product was somewhat lopsided. One side of the ship would now have a broadside of only ten, the other half would have eight. For a schooner rig this size that was less than most. It wasn't a horrendous deficit, but it wasn't good either. Despite that, Luffy was happy with their progress, and said, "If we ever get into a ship to ship action again, myself and Zoro can be on defense, while Sanji handles the cannons and Nami and Makino steer the ship."

"We'll need to figure out a way for all of them to be fired at once, rather than by one of us running down the line doing all the work one cannon at a time," Sanji murmured, taking a pull on his cigarette as he stared at it. "There's a reason each gun is supposed to have a crew of three. But I'll agree that's a good idea, given what you can do with your Rankyaku attack and what the shitty Marimo is training himself to do against cannonballs themselves."

With the repairs done, Makino roped everyone into doing a simple splash and dash paint job on the hull, literally. She had them all hurl the dark blue and deep yellow paint all over the hull of the ship, and she and Nami went around spreading it out as much as possible. The final product didn't look very good, but at least it didn't look like a marine ship anymore.

With that finally done, the crew sat down with Crocus at the dinner table Sanji had set out by the lighthouse and listened to the tale of Laboon.

"That's so sad," Nami said, staring up at the whale as it let out a wail, half its body out of the water as it screamed to the sky. "They just sailed off like that?"

"Either that, or they died," Crocus said with a sigh. "I sailed out after them for a time, but I never found hide nor hair of them. Of course this is the Grand Line, so that doesn't mean much, but the most sensible idea is that they just gave up and sailed back to West Blue via the Calm Belt at some point, and forgot all about Laboon. But Laboon thinks they're in West Blue, waiting for him."

"I feel sad for him," Makino said with a sigh. "Losing your crew like that or being left behind…"

Luffy frowned thoughtfully as he stared at the giant whale. "And he keeps attacking the Red Line for that reason?"

Crocus sighed sadly. "Indeed, you can see the scars. He thinks if he batters the Red Line down he can go home and find the Rumbar pirates. Eventually Laboon will kill himself if he continues. But he's starting to grow an immunity to my drugs, and…" Crocus stuttered to a halt as Luffy stood up from the table.

His eyes shadowed by his hat, Luffy leapt up into the air, using Geppo to quickly move to a point above the giant whale. "Hey, big guy!" he shouted.

The whale turned sideways slightly so it could stare at him with one eye. Then before anyone else can say anything, Luffy's fist glowed black for a second and he smashed it into the whale's nose. The whale shot backwards several hundred feet in the water before roaring and charging as everyone else stared.

Luffy dodged Laboon's charge, then had to let his Geppo fail for a moment to drop through the air below a tail sweep from the giant whale, who had surprisingly turned on a dime to bring his tail into play. Then he had to use it again, bouncing up over a headbutt that would've probably slammed him down into the Red Line. He punched out again, sending Laboon's upper body crashing back into the ocean with a splash that nearly capsized both of the ships anchored nearby and threw everyone on the small cleft of the lighthouse into the water.

"Hey shitty captain, what the hell are you up to!?" Sanji shouted, trying to grab at Nami and Makino to keep them safe. Makino, however, could swim like a fish, and Nami had a death's grip on one of the rocks, so they didn't need any help just yet. Although judging from her glare, Sanji realized Luffy might need some help if she got her hands on him.

The whale groggily shook his head and wailed loudly, rearing up again with a lot of fight still left in him.

But then Luffy grinned, giving the whale a thumbs up. "I'm strong, right?"

The whale paused in its attack, its battle noise shifting into a crooning question.

"If I'm strong enough to fight you like that, do you think I'm strong enough to survive the Grand Line?"

Laboon calmed down further, looking at him questioningly even as it nodded.

Seeing that, Luffy smiled even wider, so wide his face looked almost deformed by the expression. "Good! Then how about this, Laboon: I will sail the Grand Line, beginning to end, and return here. When I arrive, you better be ready for a rematch, because if you can fight me on an even footing you and I can then head out through the Calm Belt and search for your friends, all right? But you better train yourself up to be a match for me! That means no more mindlessly bashing your head against the Red Line."

Those words brought a tear to the giant whale, which Nami had to smile at. The whale seemed to understand every word Luffy said, which was impossible of course. But if it worked then maybe Laboon would stop trying to kill himself against the Red Line. Even Sanji's anger at the waves caused by Luffy's attack faded, and Zoro chuckled with Makino, both of them shaking their heads at the in-your-face way Luffy dealt with problems. Beside them Crocus just watched, astonished and slowly smiling as he realized what Luffy was trying to do.

As they watched, Laboon began to tear up and let loose a loud booming call, louder than any they had heard yet from the giant whale, as it nodded in the water.

 **OOOOOOO**

Several leagues distant out in the ocean, Miss Wednesday coughed, shaking her head and helping to right the small boat she and Mr. 9 had left anchored nearby to a tiny rock jutting out of the sea. "What was all that about?" she muttered.

Beside her Mr. 9 pulled out a spyglass, peering through it at the activities in the distance. "I have no idea, but now that green haired woman is helping the young man in the straw hat draw something on the whale. What is that about?"

"It doesn't matter," Miss Wednesday said disconsolately, leaning back into the small rat rowboat now, shaking her head and making no mention of Luffy's curse. There was no point, and if they ever saw it in action again she would want to watch her partner's reaction anyway. "We failed, and Whiskey Peak is going to have to figure out another means of gathering food."

"Don't say that!" Mr. 9 said, frantically shushing her as he set the spyglass down, staring around them worriedly. "You know what the organization does to those who…" He stared up into the sky, his face paling slightly. "Oh no! How did they learn about it already!"

Miss Wednesday turned and stared too. "The Unluckies!"

In the sky above them was a vulture wearing aviator goggles carrying an otter in a bomber jacket who in turn was carrying a bomb. At the sight both agents waved their hands frantically. "Wait!" she shouted. "We didn't!"

"Give us another chance!" Mr. 9 shouted.

But the two came on swiftly and dropped the bomb a second later right over the small ship. Miss Wednesday and Mr. 9 dove into the ocean to either side avoiding the explosion, though both of them had trouble keeping afloat afterward from the waves it caused.

 **OOOOOOO**

Luffy looked up from where he was finishing painting Laboon's nose. "I think I just found our wayward attackers. Hold on a sec," he said handing his paintbrush over to Makino, who gleefully took it, and began to swiftly correct the pirate mark Luffy had been trying to draw on Laboon.

Moments later Luffy returned with both the would be whale killers, dropping them down on the island. "So you two were still around," Zoro grunted from where he was moving wrecked cannons around at Crocus's command, shaking his head.

"Ah milady, we meet again!" Sanji said, bowing grandly and gently helping Miss Wednesday to her feet. "Come this way and have a seat while I get you something to warm you up."

"Ara, thank you very much," Miss Wednesday said demurely, squeezing his hand with hers as she glanced back at her partner.

"I, I deeply apologize for what we have done!" shouted Mr. 9, getting to his knees and bowing, his head smacking into the ground. "But please, find it in your hearts to forgive us! Please, we have no ship to return home with, yet if you help us return to Whiskey Peak we can see you are richly rewarded."

"Rewarded?" Nami said, clapping her hands together.

"Y, yes!" Mr. 9 said quickly. "We don't have much food, but we have a lot of information about the islands of the Grand Line, a Log Pose if you don't already have one, and quite a bit of money!"

Nami's eyes narrowed, and she leaned in staring suspiciously at Mr. 9. "How about some real details here, hmm? For instance, how are we going to get to Whiskey Peak? I understand that the Log Pose will choose one of the routes through the Grand Line randomly here on Reverse Mountain, so there's no way to be certain we'll choose the route that leads to Whiskey Peak."

"W, we have a Log Pose already set to Cactus Island. That's the island our town is located on," Mr. 9 stammered, feeling intimidated by the younger girl's glare.

Luffy looked from Miss Wednesday to Mr. 9, then shrugged. "All right, we can't just leave them here, after all, so why not?"

"Oy!" Nami shouted, glaring up at Luffy while Sanji smiled happily at the addition of another girl, completely ignoring Mr. 9's presence. Zoro and Makino both shrugged, willing to go along with Luffy's choice. "You can't just decide something so serious so quickly!"

"Meh, it ain't that important in the long run, and besides, I thought it said captain on my door somewhere?" Luffy replied, cocking an eyebrow at the ginger-haired girl.

"Hmmf. I'd be careful about taking them aboard, and at heading to Cactus Island at all. It's only here at the start where you can truly choose your route. Only one route goes all the way to the end, to the lost island of Raftel, though only one crew has ever made it that far." Crocus warned. "All the other routes will end in dead ends."

"I don't care about that. We're going to sail the whole world anyway, so if we have to start over, that's fine by me." Luffy replied with a confident, eager smile on his face.

"I see," Crocus said, smiling at his answer, while around them the rest of the crew were also smiling, if a little wanly in Nami's case.

"Don't suppose you'd want to join us?" Luffy asked. "We still need a doctor after all."

"Afraid not. I'm a little old for that kind of thing," Crocus said with a smile. "I'll just stay here and tend to my lighthouse and Laboon. Given how you told him to train, I have no doubt he'll need a doctor nearby, though how he'll train I've no idea."

"Suit yourself," Luffy said with a nod. "I think we're all done here, soooo…" He shook the old man's hand, and hopped aboard the ship, quickly followed by their new passengers and the rest of the crew.

Crocus stared after them, a smile on his face as he stared into the sunset, despite not really seeing it. "Huh, that smile… Been many a year since I've seen the like. Is that the kind of crew you were hoping to see, Roger?"

 **OOOOOOO**

Almost as soon as they were out of sight of the Red Line, the weather of the Grand Line reared its head. Nami had been talking to Luffy in the reorganized captain's quarters, which had been turned into a day cabin for the crew as well as a dining room. They had been talking about how she and Makino wanted their rooms set up in the short term when she looked up apruptly, staring out of a nearby porthole. With a gasp she raced out of the room out onto the deck. "We've been turned around!"

Looking down at the Log Pose, she ordered Sanji, who had been at the wheel, to turn them entirely around to face the correct direction again. Then she stared up into the sky feeling the thing that had first warned her something was wrong. "All hands on deck! I think we've got a storm coming!"

It wasn't just a storm with rain and lightning, though. It was a hail shower followed by a storm that made the one they faced coming out of Logue Town seem like a spring drizzle. This was followed rapidly by a near tornado and a whirlpool in the next several hours. It finished with a heavy snow, of all things.

Each change in weather came from a different direction and gave Nami only a few seconds of warning before it hit, causing her to nearly tear out her hair at the madness of it all. As morning began Nami was once more inside the main cabin, shaking her head as she stared out at Makino and Luffy.

Makino was chuckling in sheer delight, holding out a hand and staring at the snow accumulating on it, seemingly not even feeling the cold. "I've never seen snow before," she said softly, "This is amazing!"

"Not as amazing as you, Makino-chan!" said Sanji, swooning past her from where he had begun to dump the snow over the side with a makeshift shovel.

Luffy laughed, chucking a snowball at Sanji before pulling her hair back into her ponytail. "I'd be loving this weather too if I could damn well stay male for a time."

"Ugh, this weather… It's like the entire world has gone mad!" Nami groaned turning away from the crazies that were her crew. "And here I thought it was only my band of morons who were so insane."

"And you call yourself a navigator?" Miss Wednesday said from where she was curled up around a hot cup of tea at the table, scoffing at Nami. "This is how it is on the Grand Line."

"I'm cold," Mr. 9 said, shuddering in place.

A millisecond later Nami grabbed took them both by the shoulders, her nails digging in and they both froze at the look at her face as she pulled them out of their chairs. "What the hell do you think you two are doing?" she said in a decidedly calm voice. "Get to work, you freeloaders!" she roared, hurling them out onto the deck.

Then she glared at Zoro who was asleep, leaning against the mainmast. "What the hell! He slept through that hail?!"

Luffy laughed. "The man likes his sleep, I guess."

Nami would have replied in an almost certainly violent manner, but just then the weather changed once more, and she had to shout out orders again.

A day later, Ranma cracked her neck once, then twice, stretching her hands above her for a moment, then glaring down at her small hands. She hadn't been able to stay in her male form for more than a few minutes at a time since leaving the lighthouse. It had gotten to the point where she was just to irritated by the entire thing to even try. _Damnit, I thought the water attraction part of the curse might not have carried over, but with this weather that doesn't really matter does it? Still, it's been an hour since the last storm. Maybe I could chance it now?_

She looked over at Nami, who was standing by the railing, looking down at the water, then up at the sky, and then to the Log Pose on her wrist. She nodded in satisfaction, and turned to look up at Luffy smirking at the redhead. "I think we're getting close to this Whiskey Peak place. Crocus said that it was a summer island right? Certainly matches the weather we're getting now."

"Good," Luffy said with feeling. "I'd like to change into my regular body and actually stay that way for a bit!"

"Poor baby," Nami cooed then squeaked as Luffy slapped her on the ass.

"That's no way to talk to your captain, Nami!" Luffy laughed as Nami turned, retribution in her eyes. But Luffy had leaped away quickly, landing up in the crow's nest with a single bound. "Toss me the spyglass."

Nami remained glaring at him for a moment before hurling the telescope at Luffy's head as hard as she could.

It wasn't hard enough and it fell short, but Luffy leaned out, hooking one foot around a rope and fliping herself down like a master acrobat before righting herself quickly. "You throw like a girl!"

Below Luffy, Nami suddenly smirked, pulling at her shirt slightly to make it even tighter around her chest as she stared up at the other girl. "Given how you just slapped my ass I would've thought that would be obvious!"

Luffy rolled her eyes, but took in the view on offer, her eyes raking up and down Nami's body before turning back forwards. Nami was an interesting character sometimes; flirty occasionally, then aloof and standoffish at others. It was as if she was uncertain as to which was her natural personality now that she didn't have to fool people all the time. _Now if she could only get over her scaredy-furry demon tendencies and her bossiness outside of navigation and such that'd be a huge step forward._

An instant later Luffy raised her voice. "Land ho! Giant cactus things on the horizon!"

Nami scaled the mainmast quickly, pulling herself into the crow's nest next to Luffy and grabbing the telescope from her. "Rude," the redhead muttered, shaking her head and moving backwards to give Nami some room.

In reply Nami pushed the redhead's shoulder with one hand even as she looked through the spyglass. Frowning, she nodded after a moment. "It looks as if the island has a central waterway leading into a small cove. I can't make out if it's an actual cove, an inlet, or a stream leading out from the interior of the island however."

"You want to head for that waterway?" Luffy asked, looking at her.

Nami nodded, and Luffy leaped down, heading to Makino who was at the wheel as Nami began to the shout orders. Stopping for a moment by the mainmast, she threw a light punch at her first mate, who was still sleeping there despite having been covered by snow, then hit by hail and rain at different points of the last two days. "Wake up, you lazy ass!"

Zoro looked up at the redhead, shaking his head. "Damnit, between you and the others I haven't gotten a wink of sleep!"

Sanji was nearby, and in reply to this bit of delusion he lashed out with a kick that nearly took Zoro's head off, his foot slamming into the mainmast with enough force to rattle Nami up in the crow's nest. "I dare you to repeat that you shitty national treasure!"

"Sanji! Don't hurt the ship!" Nami shouted down at him.

"I apologize Nami-chan," Sanji said, throwing his arms out grandly and bowing quickly as Luffy held Zoro in a headlock, grinning as he attempted to get free to kill their chef. "But this shitty bastard has been sleeping here since we left the lighthouse, not lifting a single finger to help us despite all that weather we ran into!"

"I heard him, but kill Zoro later. We have work to do!" With that Nami began once again to give out orders as to how she wanted the sails turned. But Luffy had already anticipated that, staring ahead of them towards the looming island and turning the wheel in that direction as Makino and Sanji saw to the sails.

As they came closer, mist began to come up off of the ocean where it hit the island on either side of them and in front where the ocean entered the stream. Zoro's eyes narrowed, and he looked around. "Where are our two passengers?"

Makino quickly entered the recently redesigned captain's quarter's, which was now mess hall and general day room. The two semi-prisoners were there, both of them sleeping on piles of spare mattresses. Makino woke them up somewhat gently, lightly kicking Mr. 9's head and gently shaking Miss Wednesday's foot.

She watched interestedly as the girl woke up, her eyes narrowed in speculation. The girl yawned, stretching lightly in place then seemed to freeze, and her face slipping back into the semi-aloof, semi-condescending look she seemed to always wear. _So that isn't her real expression. Interesting._ "We're here," she said before either of them could speak. "Come on."

The two followed her out onto the deck, which was now completely enveloped in fog. "Is this normal?" Luffy asked, her voice coming from one side, but the redhead was simply a shadow in the mist at the moment.

Mr. 9 turned in that direction, both his hands flung out ahead of him, feeling out his way as he spoke. He had nearly fainted the first time he had seen Luffy change, but it had quickly become commonplace over the short voyage. "Yes, it's always misty here in the mornings and the afternoon. It's a summer island, you see, and the rocks at the edge seemed to gather heat quickly." His hands found something and he squeezed it automatically.

A kick to his midriff sent Mr. 9 stumbling backwards a second later. "Hands off!" Luffy's voice growled at him. "That was all I needed to know. Makino, take the helm would you? Sanji, up here with me and Zoro!"

"Just in case they're unfriendly?" Zoro said, one hand caressing his sword hilt.

"We are flying a pirate flag at the moment. Despite me still being in this form, dammit! **"** Luffy growled, shaking her head. **"** I'm afraid the whole bounty hunter alter ego has sort of run its course if I can't stay in my male form long enough to separate the two. So we should prepare for the worst."

Sanji blushed slightly, looking away. Over the past few hours he'd been able to blissfully forget that Luffy was really a man with a weird curse, and had a lot of fun looking at the redhead occasionally too.

Next to him Luffy growled, knowing what Sanji would've said if he had the temerity to do so, but Zoro simply shrugged. "We can try it at some point I guess. I don't think those two are going to tell anyone about it. And that name of Mr. 9's, something about that's bugging me…"

Luffy turned to look at him quizzically, but she noticed that the fog was dissipating in front of her. They came out into a small port, where three other ships were docked at present. Two of them were in various states of disrepair, and the other one had seemingly sunk where it was. The wharf and the docks were in good shape however.

Both the wharf, the docks, and the other two ships were lined with people at present. All of them were cheering and shouting lustily as they waved flags in the air. There were a few children, men, some women, and a few nuns of all things, all cheering loudly and waving signs or play toy swords. Those signs said 'we heart Pirates', and other things of that nature.

Sanji ate up the attention, blowing kisses at the pretty women among the crowd, while Nami, who had jumped down from the crow's nest a moment ago, exchanged a glance with Zoro. "Honey trap?"

"What's that?" Zoro asked.

Nami shook her head while Luffy rolled her eyes. "Never mind. Those two prisoners of ours just dove off the side for some reason," Nami reported, shaking her head at the idea. "You'd think they would at least stay with us until we are docked seeing as this was supposedly their home port."

Luffy shrugged her shoulders, then looked at Makino. She was staring over the side thoughtfully, but shook her head and turned back before Luffy could ask her what was wrong.

At the front of the crowd was what looked like an official of some sort, a tall, saturnine man with blond hair done up in long ringlets falling to his shoulders, wearing a uniform that looked like a butler's outfit almost. "Maa, Maa, Maa, ahem Hello to you, brave adventures of the sea! Welcome…Maa, Maa, Maa, to Whiskey Peak! I am Mr. 8, the mayor of this town. Maa…we love pirates here, so please, take advantage of our hospitality! We have a meal prepared, as well as a drinking contest complete with prizes for those pirates who have dared to come here, their first stop on their new adventure in the Grand Line."

Unhesitatingly, Sanji leaped over the side as soon as the ship was tied to the wharf. He headed straight towards a crop of the local ladies. Surprisingly, Nami followed rubbing her hands together. "Money, money, money...money!"

"You had me at booze!" Zoro laughed, following quickly.

Makino followed after the rest, determined to ask some questions about the next few islands, but her thoughts about this island and their welcome remained hidden for now. _And on top of that I still have some questions about Miss Wednesday and Mr. 9, but this group seems nice enough. A little too nice, really, but I can't see any of them being a threat to us either._ _Best keep up my guard but play along for now._

She turned back as she noticed that Luffy wasn't following them all. "Luffy, aren't you coming?"

"Nah, I am going to rest here for a bit," Luffy replied with a shake of her head. "I'd like some time to myself, you know." She mimed pouring something over her head and then sleeping. Nami laughed as did the others, but she didn't argue, and Luffy turned away from the rail, entering the ship quickly.

None of them noticed a quick glance being exchanged between Mr. 8 and a few of the others, who peeled off as Mr. 8 turned away to lead the pirates deeper into the town.

A moment later Luffy was again in his male form. Sighing with relief, he laid out on one of the beds in the mess close enough to get out and about quickly, but alone for the moment as he leaned back and closed his eyes.

 **OOOOOOO**

Several hours later, night had fallen. Six men moved silently over the guardrail of the former marine schooner. Communicating with gestures, they moved towards the entrance of the captain's quarters. One of them began to oil the hinges of the door, while the others pulled out well-oiled swords and daggers. A second later they opened the door and made their way quickly over to the sleeping Luffy.

They paused then, staring at one another before one of them spoke quietly. "Search the boat for the redhead. This one is their captain. He must have been sleeping when they arrived, but it's best to take them both at the same time."

Searching the boat didn't take long, and they all gathered once again, confused, but knowing they had only the one target here. They reported back quickly, but were told to take out the captain even with the redhead missing. Despite not being the one they had originally been searching for, it would be enough.

Three of them stood by the bed, weapons raised while the others stood back watching just in case. As one, the three by the bed stabbed down, only to watch as Ranma rolled aside. They halted, staring at him, then breathed in relief as he let out a snore. "He's still sleeping," whispered one of the men to another. "Let's try that again."

They did so, but each time Luffy moved aside. They became more reckless, stabbing wildly. At that point Luffy suddenly began to retaliate, kicking out hard enough to send one man flying back out onto the deck through the broken door. Another had his sword grabbed by the blade. He was pulled down into a forearm that caught him in the throat before being dumped to the side of the pile of mattresses.

The last of the three originally by the bed let loose a squawk as another blow took him below the belt. He fell whimpering.

The last two looked on in shock, then their eyes widened still further as Luffy let loose another snore. "What the hell, he's still asleep!?"

"Yeah, but he has to be sensing our attack somehow. A lot of fighters can anticipate stuff like that. Never heard of one able to do it while asleep though. Still, I bet he can't avoid musket balls!" the last man said, pulling out a pistol.

The other man did the same, and they both aimed at the figure on the boat. They fired, but Luffy quickly rolled off the bed onto the bodies of the two injured attackers by the bed, rolling over them. Then the one who had taken a shot to the balls found himself grabbed by his head and hurled bodily into his last two fellows. His head crashed into the head of one of them, while his steel-reinforced boots found the head of the other. All of them fell senseless to the , and Luffy continued to snore on.

OOOOOOO

Elsewhere, the nun who had been the second to last contestant still competing in the drinking contest stared across at Nami from within her own arms as the younger girl's head thumped into the table at last. The black-skinned woman waited hardly daring to breathe for a few moments before looking around at the other pirates. Then she quickly stood up, and moved outside towards Mr. 8. "Good grief," she said, pulling off the wimple on her head and revealing short cropped purple hair and a thick heavyset face and neck. "Those pirates can sure party! Are we sure this was even necessary?"

"Maa, Maa, Maa… You would not be saying that if you had actually taken a look at their bounties," said Mr. 8 coolly. "Yodeckur failure is understandable if you ran into foes of this nature!" he said in a louder voice, turning to stare up at a nearby rooftop.

Mr. 9 and Miss Wednesday appeared there, jumping down quickly. "Their captain dealt with us so easily we didn't dare fight them all. Hopefully bringing them here and getting their bounties will be enough to get the Unluckies' verdict against us rescinded," Mr. 9 said worriedly.

"It should be," Mr. 8 said judiciously. "Don't worry…Maa, Maa…I will put in a good word for you."

"What are their bounties?" the nun asked. "And what about their captain?"

"Never fear, Ms. Monday," said Mr. 8, shaking his head. "The captain and the redhead both stayed aboard their ship. I used Carue to keep an eye on their ship until a few moments ago, but the redhead is still nowhere to be found. Their captain, however, was reported as still sleeping. Our men will deal with him quickly."

A large duck appeared around the bend of the alleyway, moving quickly to Miss Wednesday's side, and she patted it absentmindedly. "Good, that makes it somewhat simpler. And don't bother searching for the redhead, their captain and the redhead are one and the same."

"What?" both Mr. 8 and Ms. Monday said in unison, frowning at the other two.

"You wouldn't believe us," both Mr. 9 and Miss Wednesday said as one, shaking their heads. "Let's just put it down to a very strange and unusual Devil Fruit which doesn't seem to have any combat application."

The other named agents shrugged their shoulders, and then turned back to Mr. 8 who had yet to answer his partner's questions. At their looks Mr. 8 unveiled the bounties on the Straw Hat crew, causing many a gasp among the bounty hunters which had slowly surrounded them.

One or more of them shouted aloud, "We're rich!"

Another one laughed loudly. "Screw our food problems. We could take this money and live like kings, all of us!"

Mr. 9 scoffed, pointing one of his bats at the one who had spoken. "Oh really, and what do you think Mr. 0 would think about that? You know the penalty for leaving the organization."

A voice interrupted them at that point. "Heh, So I was right, that name did ring a bell. Still, I would prefer that you lot stay quiet. The rest of my crew seems to have had a hard time of it lately and I wouldn't want to wake them up."

All of the bounty hunters, and there were around a 100 or so all gathered together around the bar, turned and stared. On top of one of the larger buildings nearby sat Zoro, with a final bottle of beer in one hand as he stared down at them smirking.

"How are you still awake?!" Mr. 8 shouted, getting over his surprise quickly.

"The love cook is about the only one on this crew whose likely to take a welcome like that at face value. Well, him and Luffy maybe. Luffy just wouldn't care, because none of you are a threat to her, him, whatever he is at the moment. But the others of us knew something was up, at least."

"Oh?" said Miss Wednesday in a haughty tone, glaring up at him. "Then where are the other two?"

"They're around someplace, I imagine. Probably stealing you dry in Nami's case. Makino, she's not a fighter by preference. Maybe she really did decide to take a nap, who knows? In any event, don't you think you have enough trouble on hand… Baroque Works?"

Mr. 8 and the other agents gasped. "Maa, ma…cough, cough…maa, maa. How, how do you know that name?!" Mr. 8 stuttered.

"It happened a few years ago. Someone from Baroque Works named Mr. 12 or something tried to recruit me. I didn't agree, of course. And when he tried to kill me, I dealt with him," Zoro said with a shrug.

"That means that if we deal with you at least one of us might be a promoted!" shouted a swordsman who had gotten up onto the same roof as Zoro. Racing forward he swung his blade down hard. Zoro ducked his head, his hand flashing out and catching the man's forearm, hurling the other man over the side of the rooftop.

"That's assuming you're tough enough to take my head," Zoro said as he got to his feet. Draining his bottle of booze he hurled it at the face of a man who just came up onto the roof smashing him backwards down the stairwell. "I've been meaning to give my new swords a workout. I didn't get much of one in Logue Town against the marines, considering that we didn't want to kill any of them. But bounty hunters are fair game, so you mind being part of my training for the night?"

"Such arrogance! Does he not know how many of us there are?!" said Mr. 9.

"Maa, Maa…surround him!" shouted Mr. 8. "Don't let him get away or link up with his other crewmen! Charge!"

With that, many of the bounty hunters with guns opened fire, but Zoro was gone. They all gasped, and then screams abounded from nearby as Zoro landed in among the bounty hunters, cutting and hacking each and every way.

Despite what he had said, Zoro wasn't the sort who killed weaklings like this, and as he slid out of one of Tatsumaki he grunted irritably pulling at one of his swords as if it was trying to escape his grip. "Such bloodlust! I figured you'd be a problem child,Sandai Kitetsu, but to this extent? We're going to have to have a long talk about which of us is the one in charge here!"

Mr. 9 attacked him then, his metal bat elongating into to a chain trying to grab one of Zoro's arms like he had done to Luffy while in Laboon's stomach. "Now, Mr. 8!"

Mr. 8 nodded and pulled something in his hair, and suddenly guns appeared in each of the curls. "Igarappa!"

The guns went off with all the impact of a shotgun blast, though with a longer range. But Zoro pulled, and Mr. 9 flew into Mr. 8, spoiling his aim for a moment, then Zoro charged forward, cutting and hacking. Now he was in among more of the bounty hunters, stopping Mr. 8 from firing again. Miss Wednesday also charged forward, only to be stopped from closing when her 'charge', a giant duck, suddenly wheeled away and r ran off, the blue-haired girl shouting angrily at it.

With a roar, Ms. Monday closed in, a huge cob of wood in her hands which she used as a battering ram. Zoro turned from dealing with a dozen other bounty hunters to grit his teeth as the tree-trunk slammed into Zoro's chest, hurling him up onto a roof. But Zoro rolled with it, looking down his chest and flicking away a bit so dirt. "If that's the best they've got, this is going to be damn boring." His Tekkai training wasn't perfect, but even without calling on the technique his body was tough as all hell.

Zoro's musing was interrupted by a knife coming toward his back. Faster than the attacker could follow Zoro turned, disarming the little brat who had just tried to attack him, growling at the kid.

"Oh Kami, please don't hurt him! He is but a lost soul!" One of the sisters from the earlier party charged forward, grabbing the boy and pulling him away from Zoro holding up a rosary with a cross in front of her.

"I don't hurt anyone who doesn't attack me." Zoro rolled his eyes, turning away.

As he did the middle of the cross opened when the nun pulled at the rosary which was attached to it. Smoke billowed, and both she and the child charged forward now holding short swords. A series of thumps sounded in the middle of the smoke, and Zoro shook his head as he walked out, before leaping onto another roof. Behind him the smoke faded, revealing the two knocked out bodies. "That was just sad!"

One of Mr. 9's bats again whirled towards Zoro in chain form as he was once more engaged with several other hunters, hurling them aside with various injuries. But none of them had been slain just yet. To Zoro, this scum wasn't worth killing. The bat-chains looped around one of Zoro's feet, pulling him to the ground, and Ms. Monday charged. Grabbing Zoro by the back of the head hard, she slammed him down face-first into the top of the roof with such strength that she would have broken any normal man's his skull.

Nearby, Mr. 8 smiled grimly. "It's over. No one can match Ms. Monday in strength."

A second later he was surprised to hear a woman crying out in pain. He turned back quickly only to watch in shock as Zoro stood up almost unharmed, his own hand gripping Ms. Monday's head as hers had been a moment before.

"If this is the best Baroque Works can offer, then I was right to turn them down!" With that, Zoro hurled Ms. Monday like a sack of wheat towards Mr. 9, catching him in the center of his chest and hurling them both off the roof down into an alleyway.

"Miss Wednesday! Try your dance!" Mr. 8 ordered, as he tried to fire at Zoro once again, only to miss as Zoro leaped down into an alleyway, charging into another group of bounty hunters. Mr. 8 could only count around forty bounty hunters within sight still taking part in the fight, and he shook his head in shock as that number decreased by three more as he waited for another shot. _One swordsman is doing all of this?!_ The next instant he found himself smashed through a wall from the flat of one of the blades Zoro held.

"Of course!" Miss Wednesday shouted, suddenly smirking, her shock disappearing. "No matter how strong his body is, he is still a man, and will fall to my dance! Carue, get me in front of him!"

The duck saluted, and Miss Wednesday got on its back, racing forward. A second later, Miss Wednesday slid off Carue to stand in front of Zoro. "Look at me, Mr. Bushido!"

Zoro turned, cocking his head at the girl, who he had believed to be the least combat capable of the bounty hunters. Before he could say anything, however, she began to move her hips and sway from side to side, the concentric circles of her outfit moving hypnotically. "Witness my Miwaku no Memaii Dansu (Captivating Dizzying Dance)!"

The sight of the girl's body moving this way and that, covered by the hypnotizing colors, did stall Zoro for a brief second, but then Carue squawked, slamming his head into Miss Wednesday, knocking her aside. There was a 'Tink!' sound as a tiny rock flew through the space her head had previously occupied.

"None of that please, you're giving women a bad name with moves like that," Makino said as she came out from between two of the buildings. She rolled her eyes at the younger girl. "Besides, you're doing it wrong. You need some music or perhaps a perfume to give that kind of technique another angle of attack."

"I had thought about it, but the first time I tried to fight someone while carrying perfume bottles they fell out of my coat, and the second time the smell got into my clothing **so** badly," Miss Wednesday replied, answering Makino's calm tone with her own as if they weren't actually fighting one another.

Then she shook her head and attacked the other woman, only to be swiftly disarmed and flipped to slam back first into the ground as around them the fight continued. "Why don't you just lay there for a bit, hmm? I have some questions for you, my dear. Zoro, go have fun. We women need to have a talk."

Knowing that the green-haired woman could handle herself, Zoro let the fight take him away through the alleyways of the battle for a bit smirking over his shoulder for just a second before he was out of sight. "They said something about sending a few people to take care of Luffy. Is that going to be an issue?"

"No," Makino said blankly, shaking her head. "That is, not for us if they attacked Luffy while he was asleep."

Vivi stared up at the older woman, who she had discounted from the start as a non-threat, fading easily into the background aboard the schooner. But given the ease with which she had just dealt with her, that was not the case.

As Zoro moved off, Makino looked down at Vivi, cocking her head to one side, but when she spoke it sounded as if she was just striking up a conversation. "You know, we had originally decided to see if we could create an alter ego of Luffy's female form called Ranko that could act like a bounty hunter. I made up an entire outfit for her. I've always enjoyed dressing people up. I even helped him and his brothers years back with some of their schemes."

Her smile became sharper and her eyes bore into Miss Wednesday's suddenly. "So I have to wonder why you are wearing a disguise, and what exactly you're hiding?"

Nearby, Mr. 8 stiffened in the house whose wall he had shattered under a blow from Zoro. He turned quickly, leaping to his feet, and before Makino could do or say anything, shouted, "Igarappa!"

Makino wasn't as good at observation haki as she was at armor haki, and even after years of practice she couldn't hold armor haki for very long. Her body was very tough, though, and she could use Tekkai to a certain extent. That was what she did now, shouting, "Tekkai!" Even so, the shotgun blast slammed into her body, hurling her away from Miss Wednesday. She smashed back into the glass of a storefront, grunting in pain as she rolled in the debris for a moment.

When she pushed her way back out onto the street Makino was alone; the duck and the two agents were gone. Makino scowled, but then shrugged and moved back into the store, looking around. There would probably be time enough for her questions to be answered later.

Instead of retreating as was sensible, Mr. 8 decided to rally the other named agents, his own partner, and Mr. 9 to attack the swordsman yet again, not realizing that his attack on Makino hadn't actually finished her off. He gathered ten more bounty hunters with muskets and began to move around the fight still going on around Zoro, planning to ambush him. If they could pin him down, Mr. 8 felt, then they might be able to deal with the swordsman at range.

As they were doing this, there was an explosion in the distance. Mr. 8 turned in that direction, frowning, wondering what that had been, but deciding to put off looking into it for a few moments. Before he could think anything else, the store to one side of his current position was cut into several pieces, and he heard a shout of, "Thousand Yard slash!"The stone and wood of the building was sliced into hundreds of pieces and then hurled towards Mr. 8 and his ambushers.

An instant later, Zoro walked through the remains of the building, looking down at the one sword currently in his grip. "Hmm… Not quite there yet. There's definitely room for improvement. Glad I haven't really decided on a name for that attack just yet."

He snorted, looking around at the battered and unconscious forms of the last few bounty hunters. "Even so, it was enough for these weaklings. Now I wonder where the booze is?" With that he wandered off, neither noticing nor worried that Mr. 8 and Mr. 9 at least were still awake, feigning unconsciousness among the rubble.

 **OOOOOOO**

Luffy twitched at the distant sound of an explosion, yawning and cracking his neck as he got up from the pile of mattresses. "Wha," he yawned. "What was that?" he muttered, then frowned looking around at the number of unconscious strangers on the ground around him. "Where did you lot come from?"

Shrugging at not getting any answer, he grabbed two of them and began to drag them out of the room, deciding to get them off the boat before looking for answers.

 **OOOOOOO**

When the swordsman was out of sight Mr. 8 and Mr. 9 turned to one another. Mr. 8 quickly moved to check on Miss Wednesday, while Ms. Monday groaned, shaking her head as she pushed out of the rubble. She was battered head to toe and bleeding in multiple places, but her durability was the best of the four of them. Miss Wednesday had the worst durability, though her speed and agility was by far the best of the four. She had even dodged lot of the bits of rubble, though one had caught her in shoulder hurling her to the side where she had decided to play dead just like the others.

"We, we need to come up with some kind of plan," Mr. 8 said, shaking his head. "I, I refuse to fail our mission."

"And what mission would that be?"

Mr. 8 and the others turned to look at two individuals walking calmly through the wreckage of the town. After a moment, all of their eyes widened, some in shock, some in carefully hidden concern.

One of the newcomers was a man whose skin color was a few shades lighter than Ms. Monday's, with kinky black hair sticking out in every direction and dark sunglasses covering his eyes. He wore a long coat open at the chest to show a wide pink cravat. On one of its sides the coat had the number '5' enclosed in a box. At his belt he had a pistol.

Next to him walked a young woman looking somewhat younger than Makino, but older than Nami or Miss Wednesday. She had blonde hair showing below a mullet hat, and was wearing a short one piece dress with yellow lemons on a yellow background, gloves, matching boots, and large circular earrings to go with her green eyes. Over one shoulder she carried an open parasol.

"Mr. 5! Ms. Valentine!" shouted Mr. 9.

"Excellent…maa, maa…with you here we can easily defeat these pirates. The bounties on them will…" Mr. 8 said, only to be interrupted.

"Don't joke!" the man said, scoffing. "You think we've come out all this way to help you lot? Don't make me laugh."

Mr. 8 stiffened just slightly, as did Miss Wednesday. "What are you here for, then?"

"We're here on a mission. 'Someone's found out my secret,' the boss told us. Someone has actually infiltrated our organization trying to find out our secrets. The boss discovered that then sent us out here to take care of the person. Isn't that right, your majesty?"

"I, I don't know what you're talking about. And besides, my wearing a crown is just an affectation. I'm not a real prince or king!" protested Mr. 8, waving his hands in front of him wildly.

"HAHAHA!" laughed Ms. Valentine. "It's not you we're talking about. No, there's real royalty here, isn't there, Princess Nefertari Vivi?"

 **OOOOOOO**

"Did you have fun, Zoro?"

Zoro turned from where he had just pulled a bottle of booze out of the rubble of a storehouse to look at Nami and Makino, who had come out from one of the stores. Makino held a large bag over one shoulder, while Nami was growling something and kicking the rubble at her feet. Makino actually looked a little roughed up around the edges, her clothing torn here and there and her hair messed up, but otherwise she seemed unharmed. "Huh, so you're awake too, Nami?"

"As if that watered-down booze could ever knock me out!" Nami growled, shaking her head. "Besides, whoever heard of anyone welcoming pirates as openly as this island did? Though I'm surprised Luffy didn't join in at any point."

"That would've been overkill," Zoro said with a shrug. "Their teamwork sucked, and most of them were barely cannon fodder."

All three of them turned as a sudden explosion sounded in the distance, then turned back as Ranma arrived out of the air, landing lightly on her feet, wringing out her shirt and growling. She looked at three-fourths of her crew and waved her arms in the air angrily. "So here I am minding my own business, removing some of the locals who tried to attack me in my sleep, when I hear a whistling noise. Before I can figure out what it was, I'm suddenly splashed with seawater as something slams into the ocean behind me and explodes! So here I am as a girl again."

The redhead sighed visibly, gathering herself. "Does anyone want to fill me in on what's been going on? I'd guess our welcome was really a trap, since obvious trap is obvious."

Zoro grinned, while Nami actually snickered coming out of her funk from not having found any loot. Makino just nodded before explaining what had happened.

When she was done, Luffy frowned. "So is there any reason why our former guests are being attacked at present by two newcomers? I noticed their ship as I was taking out the trash, and saw Miss Wednesday running off while the other three are fighting the two newcomers. And losing badly, from what I saw."

At that, Makino scowled. "Can you lead us to them, Luffy? I had some questions I wanted that young lady to answer."

Shrugging her shoulders, Luffy did just that. They came upon the scene of the battle, though the two aggressors were nowhere in sight, possibly having chased after Miss Wednesday. The mayor, Mr. 8, was still conscious, surprisingly, crawling along the ground, unable to push himself to his feet. "N, no! I won't, I won't let them have the princess, not as long as I live!"

"Princess?" said four voices as one, and Igaram turned in their direction. Makino went on crouching by his side and pulled some medical wraps and disinfectant from her ki-expanded pouch. "What's this about Miss Wednesday being a princess? I thought she was hiding something, but not that!"

"And if she's a princess, does that mean you can pay us to rescue her?" Nami interjected, holding up her fingers in the beli sign.

Luffy rolled her eyes, but said nothing as Mr. 8, after licking dry lips, nodded, giving them a brief overview of what had gone on, mentioning that Miss Wednesday and Mr. 8, whose name was Igaram, had infiltrated Baroque Works because it was doing something in their country of Alabasta. "The rest can wait for later, but for now, please, please save Vivi-sama!"

Looking around, Luffy nodded. "Zoro, you're the one that started this, ya want to go finish it?"

Nodding, Zoro raced off in the direction of the explosions as Makino chuckled, shaking her head. "Even he can't get lost following that racket, I suppose."

Luffy let her lips quirk for a moment before sitting down beside Igaram on a handy bit of rubble. "So, how about that longer story now?"

 **OOOOOOO**

Vivi clasped Carue's unconscious form to her chest, staring down the street at Mr. 5, shock and horror in her face. "And so, this story ends," said the man, picking at his nose for a moment before flicking it at her. The thing arced through the air like it was an arrow, heading straight toward her.

Before it could impact Vivi, however, Zoro was there, leaping down from one of the nearby rooftops, slicing the booger in half with one of his blades. The two portions continued on their course to explode to either side of him, and he landed, only to stare at his sword, aghast. "Fuck me, I just sliced a **fucking** booger!"

Unfortunately for Mr. 5, Zoro was still holding Sandai Kitetsu after having used it in his long range attack earlier. Zoro could feel the blood lust of the sword rising to a crescendo, and a miasma of black and red made of fury and rage seemed to coruscate up the blade for a moment and into Zoro's mind.

Zoro held on to his sense of self, of course, beating back the sword's attempt to control him, but he still nodded. "We're in agreement then, this one has to die." At that the miasma dissipated, but the sword still shuddered in his hand like it was seeking blood.

"Who are you?" Mr. 5 asked, sneering. "Some pirate taken in by these shit stains?"

"If you were fighting them, why are you getting in our way now?" asked his partner, Ms. Valentine. "Hahaha! If you wanted to live longer you should have just kept away from us. After all, we don't have any business with you."

"Mr. Bushido, wh, why…"

"My captain ordered me to save you," Zoro said, simply looking down at Vivi before stepping towards the two newcomers. Once away from the princess, he pulled out a green bandana and tied it over his hair, pulling out both of his other blades. Wado Ichimonji's hilt went into his mouth and he growled angrily. "Though you just gave me a reason to make this **real** personal!"

Ms. Valentine cackled again. "HAHAHAH! He's talking like he actually has a chance against us! Coming from a newcomer to the Grand Line that's just insulting! Let's show him our teamwork, Mr. 5!"

"His arrogance is pissing me off too, Ms. Valentine!" said Mr. 5. He began to pick it his nose quickly with both hands, then flicked his fingers several times. "Nose bomb barrage!"

"Stay where you are," Zoro ordered curtly over one shoulder before marching forward, his blades flashing. Each booger was intercepted and cut by a different blade, sending the explosions elsewhere easily as he advanced.

Thanks to his ongoing training, Zoro could feel the spirits of Wado and Yubashiri rouse themselves. The other swords weren't nearly as bloodthirsty as Sandai, but even they began to react to this effrontery. _Don't worry, they'll be dealt with,_ Zoro thought to them.

Scowling, Mr. 5 pulled out his pistol, which he hadn't used yet. It was a special one from East Blue, a six shot pistol which he breathed into. Thanks to his Devil Fruit, Mr. Five was a bomb man, able to make any part of his body, even his breath, into an explosive. Once he breathed into it, he raised the pistol, firing all six shots quickly. At the same time Ms. Valentine jumped into the air, her parasol lifting her high into the air.

Zoro ducked, dodged, and even cut the air in front of him, slicing into the charged air, causing the strange 'bullets' to explode harmlessly. From above him Ms. Valentine's form cascaded down, increasing her weight to more than a ton as she had earlier lightened her weight to that of a feather. "500 Kilo drop!"

To her shock despite his concentration on Mr. 5 Zoro simply sidestepped the girl. The flat of Yubashiri, the least angry feeling of his swords, flashed out, slamming into her head, sending her unconscious to crash sideways with all of that weight into the wall of a nearby building.

"Ms. Valentine! You'll pay for that!" At that Mr. 5 began to fire more rapidly, but Zoro ducked and dodged. Mr. 5, realizing that the man was too fast for his long range attacks to deal with, gathered himself, lashing out with a kick as Zoro closed the range. "Bomb kick!"

"Oni Giri!" Zoro said, his tone calm for all that he was shouting as he launched into his attack. There was a moment of an explosion which twisted his body to one side when his blade intersected Mr. 5's body, but it didn't stop his attack. Then Zoro was behind Mr. 5, clicking one blade into his sheathe quickly as he pulled the bandana from his head. "That was for making me cut your damn boogers!"

Mr. 5 turned in place for a moment intending to attack the bastard quickly. But then he gasped in agony, one hand rising to his stomach, as suddenly blood spurted from a cut straight across his body. An instant later he fell back, his body cut nearly in two. Bomb man he might have been, but that didn't give him any special durability against slashing attacks.

"So," he said, moving back to the shocked Vivi and pulling her to her feōet. "What's this I hear about you being a princess?"

Moments later, the two of them were back with Igaram, and Zoro joined his crew as they listened to Vivi and Igaram explain. Makino was sympathetic, Zoro and Luffy interested, and Nami eager. Not eager to get involved in this trouble, though, no. She was eager because she was certain that a princess would be able to pay them a lot of money to help her here. Not having access to the majority of their savings was getting to Nami, and she wanted to take any chance she could to make some money.

"And who is this Mr. 0?" Luffy asked as the story wound down, still wet from her impromptu salt bath.

"N, No, don't ask me that! You'll be in too much danger if you learn that secret!" Vivi shouted, actually pushing herself away from the others.

"Then we won't ask!" Nami said quickly, covering Luffy's mouth with her hand and glaring at the other two. Zoro flinched most nicely under the power of her glare, but Makino simply cocked an eyebrow at the young girl as Nami went on. "We've already helped you, and we have nothing to gain by getting involved with whoever this is, especially if he's so powerful as to bring together such a large organization."

"Yes, thank you for all your help, but I can't possibly ask you to put yourselves in danger for us. No matter how strong you are, you wouldn't be a match for the Shichibukai Crocodile!" Vivi said, then gasped, her hands coming up to cover he mouth in shock at what she had just said.

Nami gaped, as did Makino, one hand rising to slap her forehead and slowly move down her face as she shook her head. For her part, however, Luffy smiled widely. "One of the Shichibukai, did you hear that, Zoro?"

Zoro grinned at the redhead. "Not even a week on the Grand Line and we've already got a clue as to where one of them is?" He held out his hand, fist-bumping the redhead's as the two of them laughed.

"That's it!" Nami said, turning away. "Sorry, it was nice and all, Luffy, but there are some things I'm just not willing to do! And getting on the bad side of a Shichibukai is right up there on that list! Crocodile only knows about the Princess here. That means I can get out of here regardless of what you lot want to do!"

She turned away, only to stop and stare at Mr. 13 and his partner who had landed on some rubble behind her. The otter pulled out a series of sketches, one for each of the people there at the moment, and Nami actually clapped staring at her own likeness. "Wow! You're good!"

A second later, Nami came back to her senses, and tried to wing the pair with a rock as they flew off rapidly. "Dammit! You mean I can't even escape now?"

"And you," she said, roaring the words as she turned to Luffy. "Why couldn't you have caught them? Or cut them down with your Rankyaku!"

"What would be the point?" Luffy said with a shrug. "They already have our likenesses probably, given our bounty posters. though admittedly not yours, Nami. Besides, Vivi here needs help, and if that lets me test myself against a Shichibukai again, that's all I could want."

"God damn it, that's fine for you, but I don't want to GAH!"

Luffy interrupted Nami by tapping her on the forehead with enough force to rock her head back slightly. "Nami, I've told you before that you need to get over this whole 'flight instinct' of yours. You're on the crew of the future pirate King, what's a Shichibukai to that?"

Nami stared at Luffy, one hand rising to rub her forehead as she fell silent, a pout on her face.

"Still," Luffy said, shaking her head. "We've obviously outworn our welcome here. I'd rather not stay in one place and let them bring all these Millions and Billions to bear on us. I'm going to head back to the ship. Nami, can you get Sanji? Zoro, see if Makino needs any help gathering whatever supplies she's found. Igaram, Vivi, is there anything you want to grab while we're here?"

"A few bits of clothing," Vivi said while Zoro and Makino walked off. She stared at Luffy for a few moments, shocked at the sheer certitude in the redhead's voice. "I'll… I'll just go and get them." She stopped for a moment by Nami. "Um, and I have some beli saved up, a couple hundred thousand, if that will make you feel better."

Nami looked at the other girl for a moment before sighing, shaking her head. "Thanks Vivi, but we'll have to see about that down the line. The captain has spoken, after all." Nami shook her head again and stomped off, still scared, but not so angry anymore.

"I cannot thank you enough for this," Igaram said as he too got up and moved off, leaving Luffy to turn and head towards the ship.

The group gathered once again at the ship moments later, and Nami actually laughed now, shaking her head. "How much you want to bet Luffy's back inside getting a warm shower or something again?"

"Can you blame him?" Zoro asked, looking from Nami to the battered form of Sanji, who she had literally been dragging through the town despite his protestations. Being the only one of the crew to really have been taken in by this deception, Nami thought some punishment was in order. Not only was it sad that Sanji was taken in at all, but if he could fall for a honey trap that easily it was a very bad sign for the future.

Nami was also still upset about how Luffy had dealt with her concerns. It was as if Luffy and Zoro and possibly even Sanji and Makino thought that they could get by with simply training as hard as they could and sheer willpower! She wasn't about to doubt their strength, but that didn't mean they had to go looking for fights, did it? Not when a bit of thought would allow them to avoid them instead.

"I will not be journeying with you," said Igaram as he stepped forward from a nearby ship, the ship that Mr. 5 and his partner must've used. "I will instead take Mr. 5's ship and act as a decoy."

Sanji shakily got to his feet, trying to bring a cigarette to his battered mouth only to stop and stare at the horror in front of him. Igaram was dressed up in the same kind of clothing that Vivi was wearing, complete with makeup, wig, and a fake bust. "GAHHH!" he shouted, racing forward to duck his head into the ocean by the wharf. "The horror, the horror!"

Nami gulped and said gamely, "Erm, are you are you sure that's necessary?"

"I believe it is. Mr. 5 might not be the only agent in the area, and you don't want to be attacked in the open ocean by the Millions or Billions," Igaram replied confidently, not noticing how Nami shuddered as his lipstick-stained mouth moved. "Do not worry, I will only wear this disguise for a few islands before leaving it behind and going on as myself. That should throw anyone off the trail."

"Ah, um okaaay…" Nami said, stammering a little as she looked over at Makino, who was glaring at the horror in front of them muttering under her breath. _Professional, or semi-professional anyway, anger, I suppose?_ "We'll just be going, then," she went on, pushing the other girl towards their ship. "We'll see you in Alabasta."

"Wait!" Vivi shouted, suddenly turning around. "Where's Carue?"

"You mean this thing?" Zoro said, pointing to the large duck that was standing beside him on the boat. "It was here when I got here."

"You've got to be kidding me!" said Vivi, smacking her forehead before jumping up onto the boat with the others.

"Let's just go," Nami said with a sigh. "I'll have you know, though Vivi, that I'm going to be charging you as much as I can for this little enterprise!"

"After you clear it with the captain," Zoro said, grinning as he took the wind out of Nami's sails. "He didn't seem to think that we needed payment, after all."

Nami growled, but she and Vivi began to explain everything to Sanji as the two men began to first punt, then row the ship away from the dock. An instant later there was a massive explosion, and everyone turned to stare aghast as Igaram's ship exploded behind them.

"Igaram!" Vivi shouted, racing to the edge of the ship where she tried to throw herself over the rail, but Sanji had quickly grabbed her by the shoulder, his grip gentle but unyielding. "Let me go! Igaram!"

"If he was caught in that, he's gone," said Nami, before grabbing the other girl around the shoulders and pulling her into a hug. "All you can do is keep moving," she said seriously, setting her own worries and fears set aside.

Vivi sobbed against the other girl's shoulder for a moment before nodding and pushing herself away, dry-eyed. "You, you're right. Igaram would…he'd want that, wouldn't he?" With that, Vivi turned away from the sight of her friend and defender's fiery grave, moving over to cuddle with Carue near the mainmast as Nami shouted orders to the rest of the crew.

Even with Luffy still inside taking a shower, the crew was able to move the schooner quickly along towards the entrance to the cove. As they neared it, a voice said, "Watch out for those rocks on the portside."

"Don't worry, I've already got them marked," Nami replied absentmindedly as she helped Makino tie down the topsail. Then she paused, staring at Makino. "Makino, was that you just now?"

The older woman was already looking over Nami's shoulder, however, her eyes narrowed, as everyone else suddenly realized they weren't alone. "No, no it wasn't. We seem to have an uninvited guest."

All of them stared at the mysterious woman sitting on the bowsprit above the entrance to the captain's cabin, her legs crossed as she sat there at her ease. She was gorgeous somewhere between Nami and Makino's age, wearing a cowgirl outfit complete with hat. She had darkly tanned skin and blue eyes set in a gorgeous, if rather aloof and aquiline, face.

"What are you doing here, Ms. All-Sunday!" Vivi shouted, her peacock slashers suddenly twirling from her fingers.

"Ms. All-Sunday?" Nami asked. "Then does that mean she's…"

"Hai, she is the partner of Mr. 0, of Crocodile! She was the one I followed to find out who he was!" Vivi affirmed as the others reacted in various ways to that. Zoro pulled out his swords, ready if the woman proved to be a threat, while Sanji had actually pulled a pistol from somewhere, pointing it at the woman's head from the side.

"You forget that I let you follow me," the woman replied, crossing her legs. She smiled at Sanji who blinked, then squawked as his pistol was knocked from his hand somehow, and he was hurled down to the deck to join the others along with Zoro. "It's dangerous to point such things at me," she said simply while Sanji blinked again, his eyes turning into hearts as he realized the woman in front of him was a real beauty.

Watching this in shock, Nami shouted loudly, fear in her voice. "Luffy! Get out here!"

In reply Luffy burst out from the Captains quarters, looking around wildly. He had been spending most of the time since leaving the others in the hot shower, then just dawdling, unwilling to leave the safety of the ship's interior given how many times he'd run into cold water lately.

"What's wrong?" he asked, quickly looking around. Then he followed everyone's pointing fingers and turned to look up at one of the most amazing pair of legs he'd ever seen. They were currently crossed, but from his angle that didn't really matter much as he had a view straight up her skirt. Eventually he blinked, then looked away, quickly holding up a finger. "Erm, in my defense," he said as he stared at the mainmast in front of him. "I didn't realize you were up there."

The woman who sat there, and it had to be a woman not a girl with a body like that, chuckled. "Yes, but it is your own fault that you looked for so long."

Luffy twitched his head to one side, frowning as something appeared there: a hand attached to his face with two fingers trying to gouge out his eyes. One of them slammed into his nose without much force and the other into the side of his temple. He looked back up at the woman. "Interesting trick."

"Interesting reflexes," the woman returned, staring down at him. "So you would be Monkey D. Luffy? I've heard much about you. Indeed, Mr. Crocodile had actually decided to send someone to find you to see if you wished to join our organization."

Luffy smirked, the same cocky smirk that in his past life would've set his rivals to screaming and a few of the girls at Furinkan to blush. The woman in front of him didn't blush, but her lips curved into an answering smirk of her own as if she knew how he would reply just from that expression. "I'm not that much of a joiner," Luffy said. "If I was, I'd have followed my grandfather into the Marines."

"So you really are related to Monkey D. Garp then?" the woman said, smiling a little bit wider. "That's interesting, very interesting information there, though you shouldn't be so free with it. Garp has a number of enemies that might strike at him through you after all."

"I can look after myself. As long as my Ji-Kure doesn't come after me himself." Luffy shuddered, shaking his head of that image.

Even the newcomer twitched at that. "Yes, that would be bad."

"Oh thank you for your concern milady," Luffy said before mockingly bowing, sweeping his straw hat off his head and letting it scrape on the deck for a moment before righting himself. "It is most appreciated."

"Luffy!" Nami barked finally, while the mysterious woman laughed and Makino shook her head and Zoro and Sanji looked on with Vivi growing angrier. "This woman's on the other side!"

"Really?" Luffy asked looking at the mysterious woman then over at Vivi.

Vivi explained, and Luffy returned to staring at the woman their eyes locked almost in a contest of wills. "Then doesn't it seem," Luffy said after a moment, "as if this woman's got an ulterior motive driving her more than her loyalty to Crocodile? Letting you follow her, coming out here on her own like this?"

"It could've been simply for my own amusement," Ms. All-Sunday said a smile still in place. "After all, isn't it a fantastic tale to see firsthand, a princess going undercover to save her country?"

"I don't buy that for a minute," Luffy said simply, still staring into Ms. All-Sunday's eyes as he crossed his arms while nearby Vivi had to be restrained by Makino from lunging at the woman. The woman was giving him some serious Nabiki vibes, but there didn't seem to be any cruelty to her. Ruthlessness, sure, those eyes told him the woman was someone who would follow her plans through to the end, but that didn't mean she would enjoy it.

"You don't give off the air of someone who would enjoy someone else's suffering like that, and trust me, I'm pretty good at noticing that kind of thing," Makino said. She was an excellent judge of character, one of the many non-physical things that had attracted Shanks to her. "But playing your own game? That you could be doing. Maybe using Vivi towards your own goal, or trying to set her up against Crocodile? What for, though? That is the question… demon child Nico Robin."

The other woman twitched, and Makino went on. "That is you, isn't it? I have a very old and very unflattering bounty picture of you somewhere. You were given a bounty at an incredibly young age, and the World Government has it out for you I believe. To be after something more important than a Shichibukai's protection from the WG, it would have to be for something important, a dream perhaps?"

"Enough about me or my supposed motivations," the now-named Robin said with a small smile, but there was little humor in it. Indeed she was rather alarmed by how these two had seen through her, at least to that extent. There was a lot they couldn't see, but they had discerned enough, far more than was good for her.

Robin debated for a moment mentioning how she had been the one to 'kill' Igaram in order to anger these pirates, to get them to be more predictable, but decided against it. These pirates had already surprised her once, best not to give them more chances to do so than she must to serve her own ends.

"This is an Eternal Pose to Alabasta," she said, and suddenly another appearing and disappearing hand flung a Log Pose at Luffy, who caught it deftly. "It will see you straight there, allowing you to bypass the other islands entirely. If you follow it, you might arrive in time to stop Crocodile's plans. Or you might not. That is up to you, your skills, and the vagaries of fate after all."

"Now I agree with Luffy," Zoro said leaning against the mainmast for a moment as he stared at the woman. "What's your game?"

"But," Vivi said, slowly looking at the Log Pose. "But if she is telling the truth and it's really an Eternal Pose, the time it would save us…"

"She's more than likely leading us into a trap," Nami said with a growl. "I can't agree with using that thing!"

"I don't like the idea either, though that's more because I don't like anyone else deciding my ship's course for me," Luffy said. "But I won't refuse it if you add something else to the pile," he said suddenly, smirking at Robin again. "How about you become a hostage to our good conduct? If you're leading us into a trap, you'll fall into it too."

"I'm afraid that's impossible!" Robin said laughing at his cheek. This pirate was quite a bit smarter than his image would suggest, and if he really did use the mysterious power called haki as Crocodile was worried about, he might be a threat to Crocodile, which would fall into Robin's plans nicely. "Crocodile expects me back in a certain amount of time after all."

"And now I know you're not really on Crocodile's side. If you were you would have agreed to become our hostage and lead us into a trap in person. After all, your allies would know who you were and know not to attack you." Luffy said with a smile.

In reply to this Robin twitched before smiling in turn. _Quite a bit smarter,_ she thought _._

"Makino," Luffy went on, turning aside slightly to look at the green-haired woman. "Did you get any information on where the Log Pose will lead from here?"

Makino nodded. "It can lead to three different islands, but the most likely one is an island called Little Garden, apparently. It's a death trap, hence why Cactus Island is almost considered a dead end. Even worse, according to a few of the bounty hunters I questioned, no one knows how long it would take our Log Pose to set for the next island from there. We'd simply have to keep on going and trust to luck from that point on."

Luffy actually shuddered a little at the very idea of trusting his luck on something so important. _But then again, maybe my crew's luck would offset mine…_ Luffy thought for a moment, then shuddered again.

For her part Robin was studying Makino, one of the two complete unknowns among the crew. After a moment, she smiled. Yes, this crew was quite a bit different than she had expected. She had of course utterly discounted the drawing of Luffy and Sanji's posters in terms of any possible insight into his character, but the new poster circulating out from Logue Town showed Ranma grinning like a mad fool for some reason, his eyes alight and his smile so wide it distorted his face. The young man in front of Robin however was in no ways a fool.

"So," Luffy said looking back at Robin and holding up a fist. The fist suddenly gleamed black, and his eyes became serious, locking on Robin with even more intensity than before. "Whose side are you really on?"

Robin could still feel her mouth twitching trying to form another smile even as Luffy threatened her, while also showing he really was dangerous, possibly even to a Shichibukai like Crocodile. Certainly he was to her, given what little Robin knew of haki. After a moment she shook her head.

"My own," she said plainly, before deciding to gamble once more. "Still, your suppositions are correct in several ways. I do wish Crocodile to be, if not weakened, then at least removed from the equation for a time. He and I have an agreement; in many ways we are using one another. But I have no desire to see his vision come about, and he has a history of stabbing people in the back the moment they are of no use to him."

Robin had gambled on their lack of knowledge and on her own knowledge of their nature and had lost badly. Moreover she was now unwilling to see if she could fight her way off the ship, not given her limited knowledge of haki. For now it would serve her better to stay aboard this ship, both in the long and in the short term. In the long term she could discover if these pirates were really strong enough to be of use. In the short term she would save herself quite a bit of pain and effort.

 _And if they prove to simply be lucky or weak I can always escape later after leading them into the trap the orange-haired one is afraid of. Hmm… Best to also get the princess on my side for now too._ "As long as you use the Eternal Pose and can bring Banchi aboard, I will agree to accompany you," Robin stated. "And Princess, for your information your guardian Igaram is still alive. I removed him from that ship before blowing it up. His being alive will still pull a lot of attention away from this ship, as was his original plan."

She looked back at Luffy. "I can even say that I am trying to hunt him down, or perhaps that you fled with him rather than these pirates, and I am trying to convince captain-san and his crew to join Baroque Works if Crocodile decides to contact me. He should not be, I am only due back in Alabasta in a week after performing a spot-check of our holdings out here, but you never know."

"Good," Luffy said with a nod while Vivi stared at Robin, trying to discern what the woman was thinking and if she was telling the truth. For his part Luffy thought she was, though he also knew she wanted to hedge her bets. "Though we might have to look around for other islands on the way, we still need a doctor after all."

Robin laughed again, shaking her head at the idea of anyone just 'looking around' for other islands in the Grand Line. Even with an Eternal Pose the Grand Line was a treacherous place. "If you wish that might be possible. I know Drum Kingdom, which is on two of the routes to Alabasta, is known for its doctors. We might be lucky and intersect its weather system: it is one of only two winter islands between here and Alabasta, thus if we see a sustained cold front we will know it is close."

"Then we have an agreement," Luffy said with a grin, before moving over to the wheel, shouting orders to the others to get the ship moving forward once more. Soon enough, they were leaving the cove behind, with a giant turtle now taking centerpiece on the schooner's deck.

Nami moved to stand beside Luffy, her face rigid with anger. Vivi quickly moved to join her, though she was looking more thoughtful than anything else, seemingly just too tired now mentally and physically to get up the energy to be more than wary of Robin. "I don't like this. She's using us, that's obvious, just like she used Vivi and is still using Igaram! Why do you want her on the ship?""

"She's got a lot of knowledge in that head of hers, knowledge we can use, like that bit about Drum Island. And if Robin's using us at the moment, so what?" Luffy said with a shrug. "We're using her Log Pose and her knowledge. What's the difference?"

"The Log Pose can't stab us in the back!" Nami whispered heatedly. "You might be able to take her on, but what about the rest of us?"

"What would she gain by killing us now before we take on Crocodile?" Luffy asked, shrugging his shoulders once more. "Nothing. She has nothing to gain by playing us false at this point. Right up until Crocodile is gone she will play us as truthfully as she can."

Luffy trailed off for a moment, looking down at where Robin was helping to get her turtle comfortable. The turtle was a giant, narrow-bodied beast with a brown shell and a depressed expression. It also was smoking a cigarette, Sanji just having lit it. The two smokers nodded companionably to one another as they smoked. "Besides, she gave me the same sort of vibes that you did when I first met you."

Nami frowned. "What do you mean?"

"She's lonely," Luffy replied simply. "Lonely and alone. She got that bounty when she was, what, 11, 12? Even younger? The whole world's been after her ever since. That's a long time to be alone with no friends, hence her whole attitude."

"…I still don't like it," Nami said, though her voice was much softer now as she too stared down at Robin before turning away. "But you're the captain. Just watch her, that's all I ask."

Luffy nodded. "I intend to."

Moments later Robin stood next to him, the Log Pose in her hand again, and she smiled slyly at the captain. "You really are quite different than I expected."

"I get that a lot," Luffy quipped. Tthen, as they exited the long channel out into the ocean, he smirked at her. "Since I doubt the directions are second to the right and straight on to morning, what course are we off to?"

Robin surprised herself by laughing once more before pointing out the direction, watching interestedly as Luffy turned the wheel, wondering about the young man and where he had come by his skills and his confidence. _Regardless of the outcome, this is certainly going to be an interesting journey…_

 **End Chapter**

* * *

Robin deciding to go with them: I think it's actually plausible that Luffy/Ranma would be able to see through her to a certain degree. Luffy had a scary ability to figure people out when he decided to use it, and at one point seemed to have some of Gol D. Roger's ability to 'hear all things', or whatever it was. Couple that with Ranma's ability to figure out his opponents and you get someone who can stare right through other people if he decides its worth the effort.

And of course using the Eternal pose means no giants. But since they were most important for their impact on Usopp, I felt that was okay, especially since this lets me play with some other islands. HOHOHO.


	8. Chapter 8

Oda's not my last name, and Rumiko isn't my first.

This has been edited by Michael, and Hiryo, so there shouldn't be many small mistakes. Enjoy!

* * *

 **Chapter 8: Straw Hat Vs…**

The evening passed uneventfully for the Straw Hat pirate crew as they left Cactus Island behind. Indeed, the weather seemed to give them a break up until they were out of that island's weather system, where a single storm swirled up from out of nowhere. But the still unnamed schooner met the storm and dealt with it with relative ease.

The next day Robin woke up to the sound of someone's voice raised into a sort of squawk in apparent distress, the sound of metal meeting skin sounded behind it. A second later a thump reverberated from the roof of her cabin.

"Almost tagged me that time, Zoro!" Luffy's voice said loudly. There was a distinct level of amusement audible in it even to someone like Robin who had just woken up and didn't know the young pirate captain at all.

A second later there was another squawk followed by a shout of, "Shitty fucking crap baskets, you cannot be serious that this is the same shitty training the marines give their people?!" That was evidently the cook's voice, Robin's bleary mind thought.

Then came Luffy's voice, still sounding amused but somewhat more serious. "You were the one who felt that your leg strength was already up to this level of training, Sanji, not me. Geppo and Soru will be a major help for your combat style, not just adding further leg strength. Now get up and let's do this again. Zoro, continue your arm training for now. We'll go back to sparring once Sanji collapses."

Frowning slightly as Sanji started to curse his captain even more violently, Robin sat up in her makeshift bed, which was more of a pile than anything else made up of several mattresses that the crew of this schooner had previously used. To one side sat the book she had been reading the previous evening in order to fall asleep. She paused a moment to put it in her pack, then after making certain her clothing was decent, Robin exited the room and made her way up to the dining area.

There she found Makino bringing up food from the galley and the older woman smiled at Robin in welcome. Robin felt that the woman wasn't just being overtly friendly; from their interaction last night Makino was someone who enjoyed solving mysteries, especially those in the shape of people. Robin had dealt with such before, though never for very long.

"Breakfast will be ready soon. Honestly, I don't know how Sanji did it but he actually came up with a way to somehow refresh stale bread, so we have relatively decent banana nut bread to go with water, and a few oranges from Nami's trees." Makino said, setting the food down.

Robin nodded, trying to examine the older woman without Makino catching her on it. In many ways Makino was an enigma to her like Luffy, only possibly to an even larger extent. The others were easy enough. Nami was young and seemingly allowed her emotions to show just like Vivi, which made them both somewhat manageable. Zoro she didn't know enough about, though he seemed to be a straightforward fellow. Sanji seemed to be a womanizer, and Robin had dealt with that type before as well. And she and Luffy had exchanged enough barbs last night to tell her that Luffy was more complex than she expected. She and Makino had not.

Sitting down Robin took in Makino's body form and her general attitude, which she had not analyzed last night and then decided to simply ask the question that was foremost on her mind. "There aren't that many female pirates. I think the ratio is something like one to six hundred at best. And you don't seem to fit the normal types of women that would become a pirate."

"If you're asking me why I am on this crew, would you be willing to answer a few of mine in return?" Makino asked archly, setting the last of the food down.

Robin allowed herself a brief chuckle before subsiding, unhappy at how Makino had so easily deflected her. _Too used to being the smartest one in the room or to people looking at me with fear I suppose, that's my problem. Being with this crew might well cure me of that at least._

After the food was placed on the table, the two women ate in silence for a few moments. Robin was surprised to discover that it wasn't an awkward sort of silence, it was simply a companionable one, neither woman feeling the need to fill out the spaces with talk at this point as their thoughts orbited what they both wanted to say next.

As they were finishing Makino broached a question of her own. "I can understand your reasoning to join up with one of the Shichibukai, but why did you choose Crocodile? His reputation isn't the best when it comes to dealing with his own crew, or anyone, really. The Knight of the Sea, Jinbei. would have been a better bet."

"I have heard that Jinbei is an honorable man, yes. I do not know if he would be willing to allow a human to join his crew though," Robin said, deflecting the question somewhat before the game began in earnest. "Where did you hear of him?"

Makino smiled yet allowed the deflection to stand. "We've met two individuals who speak rather highly of him. Garp the Fist, who as you already know is Luffy's grandfather, and Shanks."

If she were anyone else Robin might've done a spit take at the way that Makino just let the name of a Yonkou drop like that in conversation. "You have met one of the Yonkou?"

Something flashed in Makino's eyes, and her hands curled. "Oh yes," she hissed, "you might say we're quite well-acquainted."

Robin flinched a little at the other woman's anger, deciding quickly that particular opening was not one safe to follow up. "Do you act like a sort of den mother to the rest of the crew?" she asked instead. "I mean no offense, but your age somewhat makes you stand out. And how long have you known Luffy for?"

Makino looked do be in her thirties, while the next oldest was Zoro at 19. Luffy was 18 along with the others, whereas Robin herself was 28. Vivi was 16, though Robin didn't know the girl's exact birthday, so that might have changed while she was undercover.

"None taken," Makino said with a chuckle. "It's true I'm quite a bit older than the others on the crew, and yes I've known Luffy a long time. Since he was a little seven-year-old boy/girl child who did not seem to care that there was a difference between boys' and girls' bodies. What are fashions like in the desert kingdom?" Makino asked.

From there the conversation continued, each of them trying to steer the direction where they wanted to go. Both of them enjoyed the challenge of trying to get the other woman to reveal something without revealing anything of their own.

About twenty minutes later Luffy came in, smirking over his shoulder for a moment before looking at Robin and Makino. He moved over to grab a piece of the banana bread, munching on it contentedly, speaking between bites. "So, have you girls decided all the mysteries of the universe between the two of you?"

"Nothing like that," Makino said, chuckling and pushing the younger boy in the shoulder lightly. "We were just talking about how you liked to assign positions to the people aboard, and I was just wondering which of our two guests would be forced to act like a cabin boy."

"I am rather above the age line for such a position," Robin replied dryly while Luffy sat down next to Makino. "On the other hand Vivi would certainly object to the 'boy' part of that equation. Unless, of course, you can somehow transfer your bizarre curse to her for a time?"

Looking over at Robin thoughtfully Luffy pulled at his pigtail. "Huh, so you already knew about my curse? Damn, wanted ta see if I could shock ya with it." While Robin chuckled Luffy went on. "Well, in that case I suppose that you'd be a shoe-in for the intelligence officer position. Did you learn about it via your power or something else?"

Robin lifted her coffee cup to her lips, hesitating. "I…would prefer to not answer that question. We are, after all, allies at present, not true crewmen. I would prefer to keep my own abilities secret."

"That hand thing was interesting, but if you don't want to share more about your abilities that's fine," Luffy said with a smile. "Are you willing to give us any information about who we're going to be facing if we take on Crocodile?"

"What has Vivi told you about him?" Robin asked, leaning back thoughtfully and staring at the younger man as she sipped her coffee. And Luffy was a **man**. Having seen his blue eyes darken last night and the way he stood, confidently yet not arrogantly, Robin could no longer think of him as an ordinary 18-year-old.

"She's still sleeping, and this was just a question of what you'd be willing to share, not specific information," Luffy replied. "After all while you might not like Crocodile, who's to say you won't try to use both sides against one another until we're both gone? Giving us false information or leading us into an ambush or something of that nature?"

"That would be nice, If Crocodile trusted anyone." Robin said with a chuckle. "He **needs** me; he does not **trust** me," she went on, emphasizing the words.

It was only after she finished speaking that she realized she had let a little too much show. "And what about you does he need?" Luffy asked. "Some bit of information you have that he doesn't?"

"Something like that," Robin said, hiding a frown at the young man's perspicacity once more. "That and I serve as an intermediary between him and the rest of Baroque works. That way he is able to keep up his guise as a casino owner and a general law-abiding individual. Indeed, Alabasta's civilians have come to treat Crocodile as a hero because he keeps other pirates away from the island."

"So this is something he's been planning for a while then," Makino mused. "To have a casino already in place, the time it took to build up this Baroque Works group, and his public persona…I can't imagine that happened overnight."

He has been planning this for at least three to five years as far as I know," Robin said, more than happy to answer questions of that nature about her erstwhile employer.

"And what is that goal?" Luffy asked intently.

There, though, Robin hesitated again, before shaking her head. "That will remain my secret. Very few people know his true goal, and it is certainly not something I would ever reveal to someone who I was simply trying to recruit into our ranks. While there is obviously no one listening in on us now, that is no guarantee that you would be able to keep it to yourselves, or act in such a way that you would not give the fact that you knew it away. I could tell you what the other BW agents know of course."

Luffy looked at her thoughtfully for a moment then shook his head smiling sadly. "Wow, it really has been a while since you've trusted someone, hasn't it?"

That sudden jab got through all of Robin's defenses, and she felt her eyes widen in reply. She leaned back away from Luffy as if he had suddenly turned into a snake for a brief moment. She controlled herself quickly, but that moment of shock and, yes, loneliness came through to both of her listeners. "A pirate who trusts someone is a dead pirate," she said quickly before raising her coffee cup to her lips once more.

"Not in this group. Not in the crews that make history," Luffy said simply. But then he shrugged and changed the subject, asking about the likelihood of Crocodile trying to contact Robin, how he would go about it, and if her turtle had any special dietary needs.

 **OOOOOOO**

Vivi had slept in, almost collapsing into the bed across from Nami in her room. She could've gotten a room of her own, but Nami had decided the two of them should bunk together while the boys used the large crew cabin. Vivi might well have argued but she had simply been exhausted emotionally and physically from yesterday. And once she fell asleep Vivi had, fallen into a deep, deep sleep for some reason. For whatever reason Vivi somehow felt safe enough to sleep without one eye open the first time in over a year aboard this ship. It had been a most cathartic experience.

Nearby Nami was at her desk drawing something that Vivi saw was a map as she sat up in bed, stretching and yawning. "How're you feeling?" Nami asked, turning from her work to address the other girl.

"I think I'm as well as could be expected," Vivi said ruefully, her tone noticeably both warmer and more respectful than it had been when she was Ms. Wednesday. "I'm still sore from the various beatings I got last night, but at least I don't have any broken bones or new scars to show for it."

"That's the way," Nami said with a smile. "So are you going to dress up in your disguise again, or do you have any other clothes with you?"

"I'm afraid not. The character of Ms. Wednesday was supposed to be a bit of a vamp, and that is **not** my normal style," Vivi said, actually flushing at the memory of the clothes she'd been forced to wear. Then she threw up her hands and leaned back slightly, smiling widely at the other girl. "It does feel good to not have to be in character any longer!"

"Tell me about it!" Nami said, shaking her head. "You're not the only one that had to…hide her true self I suppose, though in my case it was more about hiding my loyalties than anything else." Nami paused, smiling fondly as she stared up at the ceiling and through it up to the deck above them. They could still hear the sound of combat, but it was obvious that two people were getting the worst of it going by their curses. Zoro's voice was more grunting and the occasional growled curse, but Sanji was apparently feeling angry enough to allow even more "shittys" to enter his vocabulary than normal.

"This crew saved me, you know," Nami said after a moment, turning back to Vivi. "I know what I said before about not wanting to take on Crocodile. And I still stand by my words about not wanting to get into fights we don't have to. But…I have faith in Luffy's strength and the others'. They'll save you and your county if anyone can."

"Would you mind telling me about it?" Vivi asked hesitantly.

Smiling Nami did just that, describing her life minus a few of the more important and emotional bits. She had not known Vivi for long after all, and despite feeling a sense of camaraderie with the other girl for many reasons that wasn't enough to get Nami to open up completely with her.

"But enough about me," Nami said at last, peering over at Vivi. "If you can't wear any of your own clothing, you can use some of mine. It's been a while since I've had a live mannequin. Makino refused to let me try with her in Logue Town." Nami stood up, making grabby motions with her hands as she chuckled.

Vivi flushed again, backing away from the other girl, her back slamming against the wall behind her. "W, wouldn't Luffy-san serve better than me in that area? Then you can throw hot water in his face and get some eye candy between outfits," she said, trying to distract the other girl, only to blush, covering her face with both of her hands.

Nami smirked, her hands falling to her side even as something inside her growled a little at seeing the other girl's blush. "So you think he's good eye candy, do you?"

"I am not answering that question!" Vivi said, looking away. A moment later she and Nami locked gazes for a moment, and both girls laughed.

The two of them ended up playing dress-up for around thirty minutes. Thankfully Nami wasn't nearly as grabby as Vivi had feared given the other girl's hand motions. However Vivi did end up rejecting a lot of Nami's clothing as being too risqué for her.

"A simple T-shirt and jeans! That's all you want? Come on girl, live a little!" Nami practically whined.

"You seem to be living enough for both of us in this area, Nami-san," Vivi shot back, and Nami shook her head but didn't respond.

The two of them left the room with Vivi wearing a pink shirt T-shirt with three Xs across the chest area and blue jeans. The pants were a little tighter than Vivi would've preferred, but they were the best Nami had that Vivi felt acceptable. She wasn't a prude, she came from Alabasta and a lot of the clothing used there would fit very well in Nami's wardrobe, but that didn't mean she wanted to put herself on display either now that she didn't have to.

Opening the door, Nami led the way out of the room up onto the deck. The girls' room, which had been the first mate's quarters, was near the center of the ship **.** And given the choice, Nami would always prefer to head up on deck and traverse the ship that way instead of the passages inside.

They found Zoro and Sanji both lying comatose on the deck, with Zoro breathing heavily and drinking a bottle of something down as if it was a lifeline. One of his hands looked like it had been struck by a hammer, and a few other bruises were scattered around his body.

Sanji simply looked exhausted, and Nami at first wondered what was wrong with him. Then she looked closer and winced in sympathy. There were tiny marks on Sanji's clothing and face, and Nami knew what those were. "Yeesh, dodging training?"

"Yep," Luffy replied with a smirk, coming out from the cafeteria. "Sanji decided to see if he could take on the highest level of my dodging training already. He failed."

Despite his wounds and severe exhaustion, however, Sanji seemed to recover at hearing Nami's voice. He twirled to his feet, fixing his tie and moving towards the two girls, bowing to them grandly as if his entire body wasn't filled with pain as he did so. "Ladies, I regret to say that I had to allow Makino to cook the morning meal as our uncouth **barbarian** of a captain did not take no for an answer when it came to waiting on training time. Nonetheless, if you would but give me five minutes I can whip you up something fresh."

"Thank you, Sanji-kun," Nami said, patting his hand companionably and leaning forward just a little bit to let him look down her dress a carefully selected amount. It never hurt to get the flirt to go that extra mile after all.

Vivi simply smiled. "Thank you, and if you have any tea that would be nice, Sanji-san."

"Coming right up ladies!" Sanji declaimed, bowing once more before whirling around and racing to the kitchen.

Luffy rolled his eyes from where he was sitting, looking at Nami. "And you say **I'm** shameless when I'm in my female form?"

"You **are** shameless," Nami said bluntly. "But you were also right: free eats are the best kind."

Luffy laughed, but Nami frowned suddenly. "Wait a minute, if all of you are in here, who's watching the tiller!?" she asked looking through the cafeteria's door. Inside she could see Robin and Makino, who were reading and sipping it tea respectively.

"No one at the moment," Luffy said calmly.

"You idiot!" Nami shouted, smacking Luffy upside the head before racing up to the tiller.

Luffy rolled his eyes and followed her. "The Eternal Pose is saving us enough time that any loss we might take in an hour or so we'll make up quickly Nami. Besides, I had the door open, and you seem to be able to feel when the weather will change wherever you are on board."

"That's not the point! And we should always have a look out," Nami growled, tearing her hair out mentally at how lackadaisical Luffy was sometimes. "What if another pirate ship spotted us?"

"My two victims, I mean my two sparring partners, and I were out here the entire time. We would have spotted any ship before it came into cannon range. And I doubt we went off course that far in the few hours we've been working out. Nothing happened. Calm down," Luffy soothed, patting her shoulder.

"How can you be so blasé about this kind of thing I'll never understand," Nami grumbled, staring at the three log poses they had. One of them was the Eternal Pose, situated on the banister in front of the tiller. On her wrists were the two normal log poses. They had taken one of them from Mr. 9, which had originally been locked onto Cactus Island. Now it was presumably pointing towards this Little Garden deathtrap place which Makino had found out about.

The third was the log pose that she had bought in Logue Town, and that too had locked onto the same island for some reason. Or at least it was pointing in the same direction right now. Whether or not it would remain so if they got closer was something she couldn't say.

"We need these to be more visible from the tiller and always up here so that the helmsman can see them at all times," she said, standing in front of it. "I want to see if these other two poses start to point in different directions as we keep sailing, and frankly having them both on my wrists is asking for trouble."

"I'll get on that," Luffy said with a nod. "Some kind of rail or bar across here?" he asked, holding his hand up to a position at around his own head height.

"Make it a little lower," Nami said with a chuckle. She was a few inches shorter than Luffy, and the two of them did most of the steering, with Makino doing a bit as well.

Luffy nodded and went to get his tools and the leftover wood from the various beds he and Zoro had taken apart before reaching Reverse Mountain.

At the same time this was going on, Vivi, who had been talking to Carue by the prow of the ship, turned and entered the cafeteria, stepping around the swordsman's prone form. She halted in the doorway however, staring hard at Ms. All-Sunday. She understood some of the reasons why Luffy had asked the woman to join them, and learning that she didn't agree with Crocodile's long term goals was a good thing. But the fact the woman had been an enemy for so long and acted so mysterious and aloof bothered Vivi a lot.

Robin didn't look up from her book, sipping lightly at her coffee in her other hand. "If you want to prop the door open, princess I believe there is a stopper somewhere near the doorway."

Scowling at the slightly derogatory tone in the older woman's voice, Vivi turned and found the stopper before stomping over to the table, still glaring at Robin. "You said that you removed Igaram from the ship you blew up. How certain are you he was unharmed?"

"The captain of your guard was already rather battered, both by fighting swordsman-san and Mr. 5, I understand?" Robin replied calmly, still not looking up. The girl's anger towards her was understandable but served no real purpose. Further, Vivi was no threat to her either. Indeed, it was rather like a cute little kitten glaring at a tigress. "He was unconscious when I left him, but still alive and breathing, and there was another small ship there too, presumably that of Mr. 5. Beyond that, I cannot say."

Vivi's glare increased in intensity, but Robin still didn't look up from her book, and Makino watched silently. Trying to get between the two women at present wouldn't serve in the long term. They would have to get over this on their own.

Before the confrontation, if that was what it was, could go any further Luffy came up from below decks carrying the supplies he needed for the small carpentry job. He stopped looking at Vivi. "You get a good night's sleep, Vivi?"

"Ah, yes, Luffy-san," Vivi replied, turning to give him a somewhat wan smile. "It was actually one of the best night's sleep I've had in a long time."

"That's good, and I got to say ya look a whole lot more natural and a lot prettier like that. The whole vamp thing wasn't you," Luffy said as he moved towards the door, tossing the compliment over his shoulder.

He walked out of the doorway while Vivi flushed, looking away as Makino and Robin exchanged a glance, one amused, the other introspective. "He's right, you know," Robin said, now looking at Vivi for the first time, deciding to throw out a tiny olive branch. "You do look better without your Ms. Wednesday guise."

At that moment Sanji came up from below with Vivi and Nami's meals on a tray. "Oh, to serve such angels, truly I am blessed! Madams, your tea and coffee, prepared to perfection. And for you, Vivi-chan, a meal fit for any king's table, just the right thing for a beautiful princess such as yourself."

Giggling, Vivi shook her head at the pirate cook's over the top flirting and sat down to eat her meal, wondering about her good fortune. These pirates were so welcoming. It was odd, but something she was very thankful for at present, even with Robin being there.

Outside Nami set the poses up in a row on the bar Luffy put in place, nodding as she turned the tiller slightly to the west, putting them on course once more to follow the Eternal Pose. "Hmmm, we didn't go off course is much as I thought we would. Is the beginning of the Grand Line that much worse than the rest?"

"According some of the stories Garp and Shanks shared yes, though directions can always change so of course regular compasses are useless. The weather's unpredictability does die down a little bit here in the first half of the Grand Line. I'm not going to say more than that for fear of Lady Luck suddenly turning away from us."

"You already said too much," Nami groaned, pointing skyward to the west of their current position where a band of heavy black clouds were moving toward them.

Luffy smacked his face with one hand, shaking his head before suddenly sending a smirk Nami's way. "So how about a little wager? Will it be rain, snow, or sleet this time?"

Looking at the sky, Nami frowned before smirking. "You're on. A hundred beli says its rain. Never challenge a navigator to a bet like this, Luffy."

"I'm going to put a hundred on hail then," Luffy said, smirking right back at her. "Lady Luck likes to make her displeasure **painfully** obvious when I tempt her like I just did."

After the storm passed, which was actually sleet and which they took care of with relative ease, Luffy took the hundred beli from the grumbling navigator and then called the crew together on the deck. This allowed him to maintain control of the tiller which he had taken over from Nami when the winds and the current got too much for her to keep on their course.

"All right, it's time for a serious question-and-answer session. First of all, Sanji, how are supplies?"

"Pretty poor, captain," Sanji said, lighting his cigarette and leaning against the turtle, lighting its cigarette in turn. The two smokers puffed companionably on their cigarettes for a moment, blowing out as one before Sanji went on, with the turtle actually nodding at a few of his words.

Nearby Robin was looking at this with amusement, wondering if this was some strange power smokers possessed: to get along so quickly with one another, or if it was the cook himself? Some hidden ability to talk with animals?

"We are going to have to stop at some point along our route," Sanji said decisively. "We can make do with what we have for a week, I think. I suppose we could supplement it with any fish we catch, but we're running low on fruits and vegetables. Though we have enough spices to last us months now."

"Not water?" Nami asked.

"No, not water. I set out a few of the water barrels during those first few storms, and they filled up nicely. One of them even filled up with snow, and I stowed them all in the hold."

"Nice thinking, Sanji," Luffy said while giving the other man a thumbs up. "So you two, what can you tell us about this area of the ocean?"

The two Grand Line individuals looked at one another, with Vivi still looking slightly frosty towards Robin, then Robin began to speak. "There are two routes which lead through the Grand Line which stops at Alabasta before breaking off once more. That makes it a bit of a trade hub, and trade is one of the pillars of its economy. One route has three islands, the other two before reaching Alabasta. Each course has a single winter island, one of which is Drum Island, which I mentioned as being a home for doctors."

Nami looked up from where she was making a very basic map, basically a simple two lines, one with two stops on it and the other with three. "The Eternal Pose, will it take us on one of those two routes, straight along one down the middle so we simply bypass the islands? Or will it take us in between the two routes?"

"I don't know," Vivi said, shaking her head. "It's not normal to think of stopping at other islands when you have an Eternal Pose after all. But it's possible it goes straight down one of those paths and simply doesn't stop."

"A ship like this moves far more quickly than myself on Banchi," Robin said. "And I took an Eternal Pose to Cactus Island, which took me around two months. A ship like this? I would assume you could cover the same distance in less than three weeks. I did not notice any untoward seasonal conditions, so I would guess it leads down the middle between the two routes."

"That's…sound thinking," Vivi said as if the words were being winched out of her.

"How long does it take a log pose to reset if you don't actually head to the island it's pointing towards?" Nami asked, looking at the two Grand Line natives.

Robin shrugged ignorance, but there Vivi actually had the answer, and she smiled triumphantly over at the other woman before replying. "We were warned to not stay at the entrance to the Grand Line for longer than a week and a half or else we wouldn't be able to use the pose which was locked onto Cactus Island because it might reset after that time. So I would guess that is the normal time it takes for a log pose to understand that you're not following its directions and make allowances for its owner's stupidity," she finished dryly.

The crew laughed at that, and Luffy nodded. "Okay, so we'll be on the lookout for seasonal weather patterns, though that won't be easy given the Grand Line's normal weather. And we'll keep an eye on the log poses too. Will they lock onto the next island in the original chain, you think, or just the nearest one? And will it be the same one?"

"For your last question I have no idea to be honest, I have never read of a ship having two log poses and then following an eternal pose. As for the first question, the log pose will lock onto the nearest island, not the next island in the chain it locked onto when you left the Red Line. " Robin said with a shake of her head.

"Okay, now for the real questions: these Millions and Billions, are they likely to come after us even with you here trying to 'recruit' us?" Luffy asked, looking over at Robin.

"Unlikely. While we might have a few scattered groups operating here and there, the Millions and Billions were recently called back to Alabasta as part of a just in case policy of Crocodile's." Looking over at Vivi Robin went on. "He means to take over the entire island lock, stock, and barrel. That as you know is his long-term goal, but he doesn't want to do it as a conqueror. He wants to become its new king by acclamation of its people, hanging up his pirate persona entirely."

Luffy frowned staring at Robin for a moment as Vivi exploded at the very idea, causing Nami and Sanji to try to calm her down. He exchanged glances with Zoro and Makino, and the two of them shook their heads slightly. _She was way to free with that, so that can't be Crocodile's real goal, though maybe a step towards it?_

However Luffy didn't really care about Crocodile's reasoning. He was a Shichibukai, that was enough of a reason for Luffy to challenge him. His being a crap basket and making Vivi go through all this just to try to save her country was simply a cherry on the top of the cake of ass-kicking Luffy was going to open up on the older man.

Vivi calmed down slowly, but when she did she looked at Luffy quizzically. "Do you want to ask us any questions about the other numbered agents I know about?"

"Do you know any of them?" Luffy asked quizzically, cocking his head and looking at her.

"I know the group pairs, and a bit about what their powers are," Vivi replied somewhat proudly.

"When we get closer to the Alabasta I may fill in what I can," Robin said.

"That's enough questions for now then," Luffy said, cracking his neck. "Sanji, Zoro, get back to training. Makino, you're with me on the sails for a bit. Vivi, could you clean up the breakfast table?"

"Such a lovely woman should not have to denigrate herself so!" Sanji shouted. "It's my job as cook to clean up after myself."

"That's fine. So you'll want to train with me again doubly hard afterwards?" Luffy asked, cocking one eyebrow.

Sanji seemed to tremble, pulled in two different directions, his self-preservation on the one hand, and his sense of chivalry on the other. To Luffy's amusement chivalry won out, and the cook agreed. Afterward his cries of agony rang through the afternoon and well into the evening.

During dinner, once more cooked by Makino since Sanji quite literally could not move at that point without his bones grating audibly against one another, Nami posed a question that would flummox the lot of them for days to come. "So, what exactly are we going to name this ship, anyway?"

 **OOOOOOO**

"Gah give it here, you silly girl!" shouted a man in a rather decent pinstripe suit as he laid out by a pool on a summer island somewhere in the Grand Line. There was nothing unusual about the man except for one glaring fact: he had done his hair into a topknot to look like a 3. As the hair said this was Mr. 3 of Baroque Works, one of their most intelligent operatives.

Beside him and the object of his current ire was a young girl. She was around thirteen or so, with pigtails and a cherubic face with a very nice looking skirt and hat combo on. Beside her on her lounge chair was a small paint set. In one hand she held a drink with a long looping straw which she was slurping at happily. In her other she was currently holding out a special purple Den-Den Mushi to her partner.

Knowing it was useless to get angry at the girl's attitude the man sighed and picked up the phone. "Yes, Ma'am?" he asked, fully expecting to talk to Ms. All-Sunday, who routinely gave the Numbered Agents their orders.

"Incorrect but understandable, Mr. 3," said a deep voice from the other end, a voice that Mr. 3 had only heard a few times before and which had him sitting at attention immediately. "I have a mission for you."

"Um, of, of course, Mr. 0," Mr. 3 said quickly, pulling the Den-Den Mushi's bottom half out of his partners hands and moving off to a secluded corner. "We are all finished here, so will be able to get right to whatever new job you have without delay."

"Of course you will: I am the one giving you the order," Mr. 0, or as Vivi and her allies knew him as, Crocodile, replied, the words a threat all by themselves. "You are to take your partner and retrieve Ms. Valentine from Cactus Island. Question her closely, see what she says occurred there during her last mission with her partner. After that, kill her. This organization has no place in it for failures."

Mr. 3 swallowed audibly, glancing over at his partner who thankfully was too far away to overhear. Unlike many of the other agents, his partner had never had to take a life before, being primarily a support partner, and she had met and liked Ms. Valentine before this. _I'll have to do it silently and in such a way that it can simply be as if we have parted ways after rescuing her. It won't be easy, by any means, but it's doable._

"Yes sir, it will be done, though it might take us some time to arrive there. I would estimate at least two weeks, maybe as many as three. But might I ask, what has happened on that island is to make it interesting, and why Ms. Valentine and not her partner?" Mr. 3 asked. Normally if one partner was to be replaced or done away with, the other went too.

"Her partner is dead," Mr. 0 replied bluntly. "Killed by a group of pirates newly arrived on the Grand Line. Ms. All-Sunday is trying to recruit them at the moment. I also want to make certain that the former Ms. Wednesday is dead, or alone on the Grand Line, which is the same thing."

The gulp this time was much louder. Mr. 3 knew where he stood in the hierarchy, and knew where Ms. All-Sunday stood as well, which was quite a bit higher than him. Still this seems to be primarily an information gathering mission, and he could do that easily enough. "Yes, Mr. 0. I will see it done."

""Good. After that return immediately to Alabasta. It is time to put our plan into motion…"

 **OOOOOOO**

Not having been aboard Luffy's ship before, Robin was rather amused to see how little actual organization there was. Yes, everyone seemed to have a distinct job, but so long as Nami was available to keep the ship on course and Sanji available to cook (within reason, given his training regimen) Luffy didn't care what people did in their spare time. He and the other boys trained a lot, and he got Vivi to join in with Nami a time or two under Makino, the younger girl fitting into the crew with astonishing ease. But despite that, there were several hours in every day in which the crew were free to do whatever they wished.

Nami and Makino roped Vivi into their own favorite pastime quickly on the girl's second day aboard the ship as herself rather than her Ms. Wednesday persona: sunbathing. Vivi refused to wear any of Nami's various bikinis, but Makino proved to be a decent seamstress and was able to resize a few bathing suits she had designed for "Ranko," which Vivi was far happier about. The three of them would spend a few hours around midday sunbathing on the aft deck of the ship drinking cold drinks prepared by Sanji and simply talking about anything that struck their fancy while Luffy and Zoro, or the two of them and Sanji, would be training on the main deck.

Robin had never been part of a pirate crew before that had any other women in them let alone three, and the idea of simply sunbathing and gossiping was rather appealing to her on many levels despite her desire to stay aloof from the crew. So on the fourth day out from Cactus Island, Robin actually joined them for at least the sunbathing part.

She came out of her room in a black bikini that, while having more material than many of Nami's, also had to cover more ground. She was a bit chestier than the younger girls and even Makino, though not by much in the older woman's case. The cut of her suit too was relatively conservative despite being a bikini. But even so it was enough to send Sanji over the side due to the power of his nose bleed.

Luffy had been reading a newspaper Nami had just handed him and looked up at the sound of the splash and took in the view with a long whistle as Robin ascended the stairs to the aft deck. "Woooeee…" His face flushed quickly as he realized what he had done, and Luffy quickly concentrated on looking at Robin's face rather than the whole package. _Damn, those legs of hers go on for freakin' miles! She's got a better bod than any of the gals back in my old life, and most of the one's I've seen in this life too._

Robin looked closely at Luffy's face behind her sunglasses, the sunglasses allowing her to do so without being obvious about it. She would have made a joke at his expense but after that whistle he had concentrated on her face, manfully stopping himself from looking at the rest of her body. So she merely chuckled. "Ara, thank you for the compliment, captain-san."

Nearby Nami frowned a bit from where she was laying out on a deck chair. _What the hell is that about! I dress like this and I only rate a blush. Robin comes out in the closest thing to a plain Jane bikini there can be and she warrants a whistle?! Does he just like older women or something?_

Beside Nami on a similar chair Vivi looked up as Nami grabbed her drink, hurling it toward Luffy, affecting a teasing lilt in her voice. "I think you need to cool off, Luffy! And besides, Robin hasn't seen your curse activate just yet."

In most circumstances, of course, Luffy could have dodged the glass of water easily, but at the moment he was still having trouble not staring at Robin. While his body might have been that of an 18 year old and he didn't actually have much experience with women of any age, his preference was surprisingly for older women and legs to die for. Robin's legs were among the best he'd ever seen, far better than his current or former female body's. Chests held little mystery to Luffy since he could grow his own pair whenever he wanted, though he hadn't experimented as he had basically told the others, so if that would remain the case into the future was anyone's guess.

Thus the still somewhat cold glass of melted ice splashed into Luffy's face, and he groaned feeling the change go through him. "Oh come on, Nami!" the redhead groused as she brushed water out of her eyes. "I change often enough thanks to the damn weather; I don't need you to join in!"

"Oh don't be like that. You know that you enjoy it whenever you join us for sunbathing," Nami retorted, her brief surge of unexplained jealousy gone now. She stood up quickly, wrapping her arms around one of the redhead's. "Besides, I bought the cutest little swimsuit for you in Logue Town."

"Ara, that sound likes fun," Robin teased, deciding to join in. Knocking Luffy off-balance like this was both amusing and rather a bit of payback for the number of times he had done the same to her with his words. "I am rather interested in your curse after all. First of all, do your taste buds change at all? I have heard it said that women and men have different taste buds. And is it a fully functional change?"

Resigning herself to her fate, Luffy let the two girls lead her off as Zoro finally got around to tossing the wildly swimming cook a line, chuckling at both Luffy's misfortune and Sanji's moment of stupidity. "Here aho-cook, catch!"

Vivi watched the two women pull the aquatranssexual along, shaking her head slightly. "What was that all about?"

"You'll get used to our particular brand of madness eventually my dear," Makino replied with a chuckle. "Come on, let's go play with the living mannequin, shall we?" Giggling quietly Vivi got up, following the older woman as she trailed after the others. Behind them Sanji and Zoro began to fight once more about how much time it had taken Zoro to throw Sanji a line.

However Luffy was not going to go along quietly with these plans, not in this lifetime. Nor was she going to try to just get away; instead Luffy wanted to turn the tables on her torturers as much as possible. She went along docilely for the moment, lulling Nami and Robin into a false sense of security even as she planned her revenge.

Soon enough three of the women were pulling out various bikinis and other outfits, holding them up to the redhead's body for inspection. Nami was going for a sexy girl's tomboy look that built on the outfit Makino had designed for "Ranko's" bounty hunter persona. Vivi was going for conservative and cute, though there weren't many outfits that fit her criteria. Makino was going for old-fashioned and oriental, saying that Luffy would look lovely in them.

Robin on the other hand was simply poking and prodding Luffy, shaking her head. "Amazing. You have so little body fat it's incredible you have breasts at all. I mean no disrespect; it is simply very strange that anyone with the exercise regimen you seem to maintain has breasts beyond an A cup. Your rear is also rather nice too, which should again be impossible."

Looking distinctly uncomfortable, Luffy shrugged. "Erm, I don't know. I always thought size and butts were sort of genetic, regardless of exercise."

"Some of it can be. I wonder, though, if perhaps your metabolism in this form is simply better than in your male form, which would be actually normal. You take in the same amount of calories in each form, I assume, so that would allow you to build up the necessary fat cells…" Robin mused. "Then again I've never heard of a change like this becoming permanent before…"

"Wait, you've heard of people changing genders permanently? Or for short periods of time?" Luffy asked intently. Even if his female form had been forced upon him by Urd, that didn't mean that the Devil Fruit user whose power she used to do it might not be able to reverse it. _Although didn't Dragon say he had tried at the time? Damn, I wish I could remember more of my time as a baby better!_

"I've heard rumors of similar events being connected to an attempted revolution against the world government on an island in North Blue. The revolution failed, but the rumors still persist." Robin said frowning for a moment as she stood back looking down at the shorter girl. Robin was two inches taller than Luffy's male body let alone his female one, where she had nearly a foot on the other girl.

From this height Luffy couldn't help but stare at Robin's cleavage for a moment before concentrating on the older woman's face. Robin caught this and smirked, wondering if her body might give her another way to control Luffy in the future before deciding, rather reluctantly, that such an attempt would be more trouble than it was worth. While she had used her body in that way a few times over the years when she was far younger, it had been some time since she had to and she was rather out of practice of going through with such things. _Besides, Makino and navigator-chan would certainly notice such an attempt. Pity, given how physically powerful he, or even she is, it could have been quite an interesting experience..._

Shaking her head to clear it of such thoughts Robin was about to ask more questions centered around Luffy's training growing up and how his training carried over from one form to the other when Nami came up behind her. "All right here's the first suit Luffy. It's a two piece but not a bikini so you can't say it shows off your body too much. In fact Miss cowgirl here wore less when we first met her."

Nodding, Luffy took the suit from Nami, looking resigned to her fate as Robin cocked an eyebrow, wondering why Nami sounded as if she had a grudge against Robin for some reason. She watched as Luffy peeled off her shirt, dropping it unceremoniously to the ground with one hand. While Robin's other eyebrow rose to join its fellow as she took in the girl's svelte, toned frame and extremely perky, barely B-cup breasts, Luffy quickly put the bathing suit top on, then began to scratch at the back of her head with one hand, looking down at it.

Nearby Vivi flushed slightly, averting her eyes, astonished at the other "girl's" lack of body consciousness. Beside her, however, Makino's eyes narrowed at something she had seen in her young captain's eyes for a moment. _What is she up to?_

Nami moved forward, tugging the top this way and that and clucking irritably. "Gah, this is sooo not sexy enough! I know you don't have much up top in comparison to me or even to Vivi I don't think, but you should really try to show off what you've got, Luffy. Well, whatever. Let's see what the bottoms look like on you."

"I don't know, Nami," Luffy said, smirking suddenly as she raised the small thermos she had hidden behind her head over her head, dumping the hot water within over her body triggering the change as Nami made to adjust the side of her bathing suit again. "I don't think the bottom would be very comfortable."

Nami flushed slightly as soft female flesh became hard toned male skin under her hand, her mind immediately going to where Luffy's words carried her. Vivi squeaked at the sight of Luffy standing there dressed only in a bikini top which did nothing to hide his yummy stomach muscles and little of anything else. Her face became as red as a cherry and she turned quickly way, rushing out of the room.

"Well, Nami?" Luffy asked smugly, happy to have turned the tables on the girl for once. "You think I should still try? It'd be damned painful, I have to say, but if you're willing to help me see if I can fit in it, I'd be willing to try…"

"Gah, alright geez, I'm sorry!" Nami shouted, flushing and moving off _._ _You win this round, but I will win the game, Luffy!_

Robin, however, simply smirked, chuckling. "In that case, boy bottoms might be the way to go, Luffy." She held up a pair of said in her hands as all the others turned toward her in surprise.

 **OOOOOOO**

"Hmmpf, pity our black Den-Den Mushi couldn't pick out more than that," Smoker groused, turning away from their poor bastard of a prisoner for a moment as the man cursed himself for having walked into Smoker's rather simple word trap.

"Straw Hats, Mr. 0, princess, and Alabasta…" Tashigi mused. "I wonder, could this Mr. 0 be trying to recruit the Straw Hats?" Tashigi didn't think it likely, or at least didn't think it likely that the StrawHats would join up with some criminal organization. They hadn't struck her as the joining type.

"It's possible, but princess and Alabasta…wasn't there a story two years or so back that said the princess of Alabasta had disappeared?" Smoker mused. "The two of them might be connected somehow, and Alabasta is certainly having enough troubles these days to draw in the vultures."

Around the two officers the crew of the marine galleon went about their work with quiet efficiency. The massive ship glided through the Grand Line, dealing with whatever problems it threw at them. Smoker had taken the ship from Logue Town as well as more than half of the marines stationed there to hunt down the pirates who had humiliated him and stolen Marine property. That was against the orders of his higher ups but Smoker couldn't care less about that.

"With all due respect sir, the Straw Hats didn't strike me as the vulture sort, only because they are far too straightforward to wait around like those birds tend to," Tashigi replied dryly. She had also come to respect the group after hearing what they had done to Arlong and his crew, and she was occasionally still thinking about the words Luffy had shouted at her and Smoker during the fight in Logue Town.

"Bah, a pirate is always a pirate whatever they might think," Smoker said, growling angrily, though even he had been slightly shaken by the conviction in Luffy's words. Not so much the accusations he had thrown into his face about the World Government, but the way he had seemed so certain of himself when he stated he would be the Pirate King.

After a moment's silence, Smoker went on. "Well at least we have a target for our search. And it actually might not be a bad idea anyway, since Alabasta intersects two of the seven routes through the Grand Line. Break out the Eternal Poses, let's head to the closest marine base to Alabasta. From there we'll head to the island itself and see what there is to discover."

 **OOOOOOO**

Over the next week or so Vivi got to know the rest of the crew as did Robin to a certain extent, though most of the crew was still leery of her. Vivi fit in very well, being a rough and tumble sort of girl despite her upbringing. She wholeheartedly joined in with taking care of the ship or fishing with the boys and the jokes and girl time with Makino and Nami (and perforce Robin). Robin fit in somewhat less well, only becoming close to Makino given a shared passion for caffeinated beverages and reading. These were moments, however, that even Robin enjoyed greatly. She also never joined in the training, which was one of the more important daily events for the entire crew. She observed, and began to realize more accurately how dangerous this crew was, but that was all.

Vivi on the other hand joined in as much as possible. Surprising Luffy and the others she quickly became better at dodging than Nami, though Nami had better luck dodging attacks coming at her from behind, able to feel them coming better than the younger girl. Vivi also joined in the arm muscle exercises, which Nami did not, trying to perfect Soru and Kami-E while ignoring Tekkai and Rankyaku. But Vivi was determined to create her own ranged attack eventually after seeing 'Mr. Bushido' at work on his.

Late one evening as the sun was going down, Robin was once more out with the others sunbathing. Luffy had actually followed Robin's suggestion about the boy bottom suit and laid out with the others soaking in the sun, almost purring at its touch. They'd dealt with another storm that morning and into midday, so she felt it was time to get some pleasure out of her other form. The fact that Sanji was waiting on him/her hand and foot just like the normal girls was a definite bonus.

Raising a hand lazily, Luffy was about to thank Sanji for bringing out another tray of amazingly tasty drinks, but then stopped, staring at them. "Sanji, how much of our supplies of fruits and stuff are you using for these drinks?"

At that Sanji frowned, pulling to a stop as he was about to refresh Nami and Vivi's drinks. "We don't actually have any fruits left save for Nami-chan's precious trees." The trees in question had been brought out in their planters, the ship no longer having enough nails for Ranma to make a trough for them. "I've used rinds and apples cores to add flavor to the drinks, but even our water is running low at this point."

The chef gestured over his shoulder down to the main deck, where Banchi was laid out to one side with Carue sitting on his back with Zoro. The two of them were fishing, their lines trailing along in the water to the starboard side of the ship. "Banchi doesn't eat much compared to his size, but he only eats vegetables, so we've got only a day or so left. Carue, surprisingly, eats meat, but he also eats as much as the captain, aho-marimo, and I do."

Suddenly Sanji's eyes narrowed, and he hopped down to the main deck then moved on silent feet to right behind Carue. Then without warning he kicked the duck in the rear, shooting him forward off Banchi. The duck's squawk revealed a half-eaten slab of beef, which fell out of his mouth to land in the ocean below. "What've I told you about sneaking food, you shitty bird! I'm going to fricassee you!"

"No, wait, Sanji!" Vivi shouted, rising quickly and going down to intercede on her pet's behalf. Nami stood up to watch, but then she too scowled angrily as she saw Banchi lip at one of her trees. "Oy, you damn turtle! Don't think I won't ask Sanji to make soup of you if you…" she trailed off as Banchi did it again, lapping up one of her tangerines. "Why, you!"

Unlike Vivi, Robin made no move to protect her pet, or rather her mode of transportation. Instead, she and Luffy both stood up to watch the ongoing confrontations while Makino merely chuckled, continuing to read the romance novel she had liberated from Whiskey Peak before their departure. As they watched Zoro soon got involved, egging on Nami and making comments about how Banchi looked like he could feed them for weeks.

This prompted the chain smoking turtle to heave to its feet, nearly tossing the swordsman from its back over the side. Sanji had backed down quickly and was pleading on bended knee to Vivi to control her animal, while the princess was blushing and trying to retrieve her hand from the amorous chef, until Zoro pushed between them to confront Banchi, swords out and roaring.

"Is it always this lively?" Robin asked, smiling slightly as she watched the drama continue until Nami laid out Carue and Banchi, then the two men roaring at all four of them for being idiots.

"Yep," Luffy replied with a laugh. "And I wouldn't have it any other way." _Although it is hilarious to be watching the chaos rather than being the central figure in it all._

"Really?" Robin said, chuckling now as she continued to watch the action, not noticing how Luffy looked at her sideways, smiling herself as she realized Robin's own smile was genuine now, rather than simply a front as it too often seemed to be.

Luckily for the crew Nami noticed something two days later. "The log poses have reset!" she shouted, standing at the tiller for her turn there, having replaced Makino who had just started to go inside to take a nap. The woman turned back at once followed by the rest of the crew, congregating while Nami turned in every which way, taking in the temperature and the lack of rain or heavy weather.

The two log poses were now pointing in a different direction than they had been just as Nami had noticed. Where before they had been pointing aft and port of the ship or to the south, southwest of their current position, the log poses were now pointing forward and starboard, or north by north west.

Luffy looked at his navigator, quieting the others who had begun to shout questions. The food issue was really getting to them at this point, despite Luffy and Zoro having proven surprisingly capable fishermen. They had caught several small fish, but none of the true monsters of the sea save a dolphin, who Luffy had let go. Eating dolphin was considered bad luck by sailors the world over. "Nami?"

Smiling at her captain, Nami nodded. "We've entered an island's territory, captain. Judging by the weather and the temperature, I'd say a summer island of some kind. Permission to change our course and follow the log poses instead of the Eternal Pose?"

"Permission granted, navi-chan!" Luffy said with a grin, pulling the girl into a brief hug before hopping over to the tiller. Once there he cocked an eyebrow at the orange haired girl. "Well, what are you waiting for?"

With that Nami laughed and began to shout out orders to the rest of the crew. Vivi and Robin also hopped to with a will, helping the other two men to fix the sails into a new position and laying on more canvas. The schooner, which had been conserving canvas before this point due to fears of sudden storms, now began to really sprint along.

They were still moving along quickly the next day when Luffy spotted smoke rising above the horizon.

Scowling, Luffy jumped down from the crow's nest, shaking his head. "There's an island there all right, but that smoke…it's too wide spread to be a fire. I think the island's under attack."

One after another the rest of the crew ascended up to the crow's nest to take a look through the spyglass as the schooner went on its way pell-mell. Two of its smaller sails had been replaced since the sprint had begun, but thankfully the mainsail had withstood the breakneck pace they'd set just as it should given the schooner's rigging. But even a ship like this had limits to how fast it could go, especially with the number of storms they'd had to deal with.

Luffy looked over at Sanji, his question clear in the tilt of his straw-clad head, and the chef shook his head quickly. "We don't have enough food, especially fruits and vegetables, to let us keep going captain," he said formally. "If we bypass this island we'll be facing scurvy and dietary needs within a few days more."

"So we sneak in," Nami broke in, and the rest of the crew turned from their various positions along the rigging to look at her, where she along with Vivi stood in the actual crow's nest. "We'll dock somewhere, and Luffy and those you think have learned Geppo well enough can go in, grab what provisions you can, and then sneak out. We don't need to get involved here; we don't need to pick another fight."

Vivi shook her head, staring at her friend in shock. "How can you say that?! Those people could need our help!"

"We don't have enough information," Robin said smoothly before either of the younger girls could continue. She was actually perched on the far end of the topsail, sitting there with the ease of a lifetime spent at sea, and had even brought her own spyglass along. "Let us wait until we are at least within sight of whatever is going on before deciding on a course of action. If the island is under attack, it's doubtful that even the attackers will have a lookout posted. We should be able to see what's going on before anyone else can realize they are being observed."

Luffy nodded, gesturing up into the sky. "And I've got another advantage there anyway," he said with a wry yet grim smile. "The rest of you, start getting this ship cleared away for battle, just in case. I want the cannons armed and the gun ports opened and all that stuff."

The crowd had underestimated how long it would take him to close the distance from when they first spotted smoke. Even a schooner rig couldn't travel that fast, going only around 17 knots. But after a few hours Luffy once more took to the sky, bouncing up several stories higher than the crow's nest and peering ahead of them with the spyglass.

Luffy saw the island and what looked like a large port covering a little bit over half of it, probably a port and main city all in one considering it was a rather small island. In the harbor he saw a few ships: one a large galleon, and two other slightly smaller ships, which were noticeably lower in the water than the galleon. Whether or not there was a size difference at work or they were sinking, Luffy couldn't say.

The galleon was situated in the center of the bay which housed the port on a sort of diagonal; the ship was currently lashing the port with fire. Luffy could only barely hear it from here, but he saw the smoke going up from it and a few of the buildings in the port being smashed to pieces.

Dropping back down to the crow's nest he shouted down to the rest of his crew. "They're definitely under attack! One large galleon the same size as that Krieg guy's ship set directly in the center of the bay. It seems to be bombarding the city to rubble. We're not close enough yet to make out any more details."

About an hour later that changed, and he dropped down again. "It's a pirate ship," he reported grimly. "Pirate mark has a large Catholic cross with two marlin spikes in the background and some kind of pumpkin head thing with long hair wrapped around it into a small X underneath the chin."

Robin's eyes had narrowed at the word 'Catholic' for a moment, but she hid it before anyone else saw it, and she nodded slowly, seeming to ruminate for a moment. "I believe that is the sign of another up-and-coming rookie crew. They are called the Hawkins Pirates, originating from North Blue I think. Their captain is Basil Hawkins, and like you he has a rather large bounty for someone so newly arrived in the Grand Line."

"We have to help them!" Vivi said, now staring through another spyglass at the smoke and flame visible now from the deck of the schooner.

Nami frowned. She didn't like the idea of just sailing off leaving these people to their fates, but she also didn't like the idea of picking a fight with another pirate group, so she really couldn't say what they should do. She said so out loud, but then sighed and looked at Luffy. "But it's your call, captain."

Luffy nodded, smiling internally at that. "If there was a marine presence here I would be all for leaving them after we sneak in to grab some food, but there isn't. That means it's up to us. Besides, those kind of pirates are the ones I hate the most. They're not pirates, they're simply bandits of the sea! And I will deal with them as any bandit should be."

"Are you sure we're not heroes instead of pirates?" Zoro asked suspiciously even as he nodded his head in agreement with his captain, a glimmer of bloodlust entering his smirk for a moment.

"He has a helping people thing," Makino said. '"Besides," she went on pointing ahead of them, "would you really be able to just sail away from this?"

Zoro grunted, not deigning to reply while Sanji nodded seriously, agreeing with Makino and Luffy's opinion as Vivi nodded her head rapidly. For her part Robin frowned, looking away for a moment before looking back at the island. Memories seemed to pop into her head then, her long, dexterous hands twitching at her side like a metronome.

"Very well, I agree, and I may be able to help us with our initial assault," she said after a moment. She looked around at the Straw Hats, and sighed in resignation before she began to explain her power. As she spoke Luffy nodded, instantly understanding what she could do.

The schooner raced forward, still with full sail set making for the harbor. All of the Hawkins pirates had already gone ashore. As Robin had predicted they had not even left a lookout behind. The schooner swiftly entered the port and before any of the pirates still loitering here and there around the wharfs could react to its presence the schooner's broadside opened up on their ship. "KRAKkoooom!"

Below on the gun deck thousands of hands were at work guided by dozens of eyes as Robin fired the broadside using her Hana-Hana No Mi, one hand per cannon lighting the fuses at Luffy's shouted command. The cannons roared, flying back on their rails for a moment. The rest of her hands went to work as Robin stood in the center of the gun deck. Her arms were crossed over her chest and her eyes closed for the moment as Robin directed each gun in turn. An instant later the schooner's guns spoke again in a rippling fire one after another, once again targeting the pirate's ship.

By that point Luffy had adroitly maneuvered the schooner around the port side of the galleon, lining up the schooner's broadside with its prow. All of the shots from the second broadside slammed home, shredding the ship from one end to the other and two of its masts fell with resounding crashes into the ocean. Immediately the ship began to list badly, taking on water at the water line. The schooner moved on, raking the galleon's sides with fire twice more in the time it took the ship to reach the docks.

Shouts of anger and fury met this sudden assault from the pirates who had not raced further into the port city. They gathered into a group of around twenty then spread out behind cover facing the incoming enemy ship. All of them looked to be dressed like cultists in purple robes with crosses hanging around their necks. Their defensive position was good, but unfortunately for them, three of the attackers had already landed.

Dropping down from the sky where he had been hopping along beside Luffy, Sanji was in amongst the largest group, his legs flashing out with crushing force. Zoro dropped too, his own movement through the air having been far more uncoordinated than Sanji's, his blades flashing out as he shouted, "I bet I'll kill more of them than you do Love Cook!"

"You're on Baka Marimo!" Sanji shouted back, and the two of them went to work quickly and efficiently.

Out in the waters of the bay, the schooner sailed around the shattered wreckage of the galleon once again, its guns firing one after another, now aimed at the water line of the larger ship along its port side, causing it to sink faster with every shot before turning again back towards the wharf. There the four women disembarked to an area now empty of enemy pirates. Behind them the lines of hands that had been doing the work in both the sails and the gun deck disappeared into a storm of flower petals.

Luffy dropped in next to them, pointing ahead twice in different directions. "Zoro went that way, Sanji that way. Most of the pirates are still deeper inside the city. It looks as if they couldn't hear the roar of our guns, or just haven't connected it to an attack on them yet. Makino, Nami, Vivi, try to skirt around the fight, get as many of the civilians gathered as you can and pull them to the western side of the port. There doesn't seem to be as much fighting there yet, that'll get them out of the way."

The three women all nodded, and Luffy turned to look at Robin. "You want to go with them, or do your own thing?"

"I will help them search for survivors. I think my powers can be most useful there, and you and the other boys seem to have the main fight under control," Robin said, looking around. For just a moment her face was far younger and somewhat scared before she could control herself.

Something about this attack was triggering a bad memory in her, Luffy could tell, though what that might be he had no idea. And since she controlled it quickly Luffy merely nodded at her and turned, leaping up onto one of the rooftops and then away, racing deeper into the port faster that way than he could have in the air.

 **OOOOOOO**

With Vivi and Makino's general girl-next door (or woman next door) looks and Nami's ability to feel out the layout of the city, the four women gathered several dozen civilians quickly. They ran into a dozen scattered pirates, but Nami and Robin dealt with them easily. The civilians sometimes balked at their orders or appearance but Vivi was able to convince them to keep running away from the ongoing violence elsewhere in the port with relative ease. But soon enough the four women soon came under attack.

Makino gasped suddenly turning and shouting, "Tekkai!" A bullet zoomed through the air, impacting her shoulder with stunning force. She grunted in pain, stepping back slightly, but her swift reaction to feeling the imminent attack and the Tekkai technique had saved her. "Sniper!" she shouted.

Nearby Nami and Vivi dove for cover as the sniper fired on them. Neither of the younger girls could use Tekkai like Makino could, but Vivi dodged a crossbow bolt and several darts for a second before she could get cover, showing an ability to dodge that was surprising after only a few weeks. Nami, in contrast, used Soru to cover the intervening distance from where she had been and the nearest cover.

Now Nami was peering out from behind cover for a moment, realizing instantly that it wasn't just one sniper, but four. The foursome was dressed like the rest of the crew, though they were noticeably taller, and instead of having full robes their robes were cut off at the sleeves. And instead of the cutlasses and pistols that seem to be the norm among the rest of the crew they had seen, these were using different weapons. One of them had a bow and arrow with a sniper scope and very advanced looking arrows, another a crossbow which looked equally advanced, a third a rifle, and the fourth a blowgun which looked almost antique in comparison to the weapons of the others.

Robin too had ducked into cover at Makino's warning. She had been further down the street with several injured men and women helping them along while dealing with a few other pirates. The civilians raced off quickly through the alleyways, leaving Robin to her own devices. Cocking her head out from behind cover, Robin crossed her arms in preparation to using her Hana-Hana No Mi.

Hands appeared all over the snipers, two of them rising from their shoulders and reaching out to their chins, others reaching down from their backs to the front of their legs. But before she could finish the move, the wall behind her exploded as a huge mallet came through it, slamming into her back and hurling Robin down the street with a cry of agony.

"You four keep those other three bitches busy; I'll take this one," the man who came through the hole in the wall ordered. He was a large man, larger than the other four by at least a foot and had a massive head low-slung on his shoulders with a large green mask covering it. Behind the mask blue hair stuck out from above, and wild, bloodshot eyes glared at Robin. He wielded a giant mallet in one hand, and had a repeating crossbow up some kind strapped to his other arm shooting not regular crossbow bolts, but small spikes.

He raised that arm firing the spikes after Robin, who rolled with the impact of his previous attack, then used her power for a brief second to grab her own body and throw it into the air to dodge a few more. Lithely Robin twisted herself in midair, landing on her feet facing her opponent. She crossed her arms over her chest scowling angrily. "You will find that you have bitten off a little more than you can chew," she said coldly, as hands appeared on his body like they had previously on the four snipers.

But the man twitched his head to one side smacking his mask into one of the hands as the hand not wielding his mallet reached up and grabbed the other one, twisting it hard, forcing Robin to let her power go lest her own arm take the injury. "Is that the best you got?! I am a Hawkins pirate, girl, and I have the power of minor precognition! You'll never surprise me!"

"We will see about that," Robin said, trying once more, with several different attacks this time as she retreated from his own, leaving the snipers to the other girls.

Makino and the two younger girls had split up in an effort to split the snipers' attention so they could either lose or close on them. One of the snipers had indeed split off from the others to chase after Makino, but the former barmaid ran into another problem: several dozen civilians who had been hiding in the area. And of course the Hawkins pirate had no problem firing on the civilians while also shooting at Makino. His advanced rifle fired far more rapidly than any musket she had seen before, killing several civilians around her.

Desperately Makino kicked a store's door open to one side, shouting, "Get in, over here!"

Inside she found a small family of three already cowering. The man of the family was about to attack her until they recognized their neighbors who rushed in past Makino. The green-haired woman also put them at ease quickly as she had helped one of the younger children inside before ducking around the doorway. A bare millisecond later a bullet smacked into the ground where she had previously been standing.

Makino, her hand covered with Armor Haki, caught it on the rebound before it could bounce further into the store, dropping the bullet after a moment. Her previously black hand went back to normal as she wrung it out as if it pained her. "Ow, this is not good! Is there a back way out of here?"

There were several headshakes as the civilians all hid around the room, and another bullet smacked into the ground. That one stuck thankfully, and looking at the bullet, not the musket ball, Makino winced. She had heard of such things, but never seen one in person before. _I suppose the tales about North Blue being advanced are real after all._ "This is going to be painful, but nothing for it but to take my lumps I suppose."

With that she jumped out into the open doorway shouting, "Tekkai!" Another shot took her in the thigh, but she was able to raise her own gun and fire back at the surprised sniper, who had not moved from his previous position. The musket ball took him through his chest, hurling him backwards and out of sight in a spray of blood.

Wincing, Makino shook herself then reached down rubbing her thigh. "I'm going to have to up my own training. I fear that is going to be really sore for the next few days."

For their part Nami and Vivi hadn't been able to open the range up slightly. Instead they lead the snipers away from the civilians they were trying to protect. Ducking now away from crossbow, dart, and bow fire, Nami slid into cover behind a crate in an alleyway between two houses, wincing as several arrows and two crossbow bolts perforated it a moment later.

Vivi slid into the same alleyway an instant later before rolling directly onto Nami, the two girls hiding behind the same crate. "We have to close with them! Unless you have a pistol or something, Nami-san?" Vivi asked, her breath coming out in short gasps. Despite the last two weeks of training, she was easily the weakest member of the crew, and her endurance was far less than any of theirs.

"No, sorry. So do you want to close or play bait?" Nami asked grimly.

The blue-haired princess thought about it for a moment, then growled, ducking down, her head pressing back down into Nami's for a second as a dart and crossbow bolt went through her head's previous position. "I suppose I'll play bait. I don't think I could take all three of them, and they're staying bunched up on that roof!"

"I'm just glad it's just three of them, though I suppose that means that the other one went after Makino. Still, she can handle herself far better against snipers than we can. I really need to look into training myself on pistols," Nami growled, before pulling out two wooden tonfas Luffy had made for her. The inside edge of the tonfa was sharpened with a sharp blade taken from a knife set into the wood, with the edge ending an inch below the blunt end of the tonfa.

"I'll close, then. You draw their attention for a moment. Good luck," Nami said, turning quickly and pulling Vivi into a brief but heartfelt hug. With that she switched positions with the younger girl, pressing her down with her body for a moment, then skirting down her body keeping under cover as much as possible as she went further into the alleyway.

She was able to round the house's corner, then moved around through the city until she was coming at the three snipers from behind. At the same time back where Nami had left her, Vivi stuck her head out briefly, firing at them for a moment with a purloined pistol she had grabbed from the ground near the wharf. The three snipers disdainfully spread out only slightly, watching as the bullet flew past their positions without even coming close to them.

However Vivi heard one of them shout. "It's only the one with blue hair. Where'd the other one go?"

The one with the crossbow growled. "Spread out and find the bitch!"

At that Vivi realized that she had to do a bit more to really keep their attention on her. Action following thought Vivi rolled out of cover, swirling her peacock slashers around her and racing towards the building whose roof the snipers were currently on as if she would jump straight up at them. Vivi had to dodge and duck as all three of them quickly began to fire at her, using her peacock slashers to knock an arrow or two out of the air, but relying more on her agility to dodge than anything else.

"She's as slippery as a greased pig!" shouted one of them, causing Vivi to feel rather affronted for a moment.

However an instant later Vivi was forced to remember that this small battle was but a microcosm of the larger one. Nearby a crash was heard, and several elderly people and two young boys raced around from the corner of the street leading toward the center of the city. Several more pirates were following them, trying to cut them down with cutlasses.

Without a second's thought Vivi raced in that direction, still dodging the fire from the three snipers behind her as they continued to shout and rage at their inability to hit her. Ten feet away from the group of civilians Vivi leaped over their heads landing between them and the other pirates.

"Peacock Slasher!" Instantly her peacock slashers, small, pretty yet sharp shards of rock on strings, lashed out, cutting into arms and chests. Vivi didn't have it in her to slit throats, but she was still able to disable and disarm her opponents with relative ease, cutting into their wrists and faces so they couldn't see through their blood or hold their weapons any longer.

By this point the civilians had reached cover in one of the alleyways but Vivi had stayed still for just a instant too long. The blowgun user tagged her in the back with one of his darts, and she grunted as it hit. However like Vivi's own weapons the dart didn't seem to have much stopping power, and she turned quickly, reaching behind her with one hand to pull it out and toss it aside before ducking under a crossbow bolt which would've taken her in the head.

By this point Nami had **finally** been able to get up onto the rooftops. She had to deal with two other pirates, but both of them had fallen quickly to her speed and Luffy's training. "I'm going to have to do something nice for my captain later. That training really has paid off," Nami muttered as she at last attacked the snipers.

Possibly seeing her moving out of the corner of his eye the one with the crossbow turned, only to take one of her tonfa's blunt end straight in the stomach. The blow hurled him off the roof with a whoosh of compressed air and a cry of pain. A kick lashed out catching the blowgun user in the mouth, smashing his blowgun and jaw in one blow knocking him out.

The bow user turned, his bow whipping around like a staff, but Nami had trained as a staff user herself for years, and ducked underneath it easily. Her tonfa came up, catching the bow on the back sweep and knocking the man off-balance. At the same time Nami whirled underneath his reach, slamming her other tonfa's end into his chest and hurling him off the rooftop to join his fellow below.

Looking over the roof, Nami winced. One of the snipers had landed on his shoulder shattering it, and was now rolling around in agony. But several men had rushed out from a nearby building with makeshift weapons so he wasn't going to go anywhere anytime soon, or ever from the looks on their faces. The other, the first one that Nami had knocked off the roof had fallen on his head, hence the orange haired woman's wince. Brain and blood was splattered everywhere.

Nami shuddered a little before gritting her teeth and turning, hopping down off of the roof by using an awning over a storefront for a brief moment to land next to Vivi. "Sorry that took so long; I ran into a bit of trouble along the way. We're not nearly far enough away from the fight…" Nami trailed off, as she saw how pale Vivi looked. "Vivi?"

Before she could say anything further Vivi swayed for a second, then fell forward. Nami caught her before she could fall, shouting her name as she held the younger girl to her. "Vivi? **Vivi**!" But Vivi did not reply, her eyes slowly closing as she fell into unconsciousness.

 **OOOOOOO**

Elsewhere, Sanji had raced through the streets, saving several people, while ordering them all to retreat to the west through the fire and chaos of the fight. He'd caught at least four large groups of Hawkins pirates, flattening them all in turn before racing on as the fight began to die down. A lot of civilians had already died, however. Many of the main streets were littered with bodies, though not nearly as much as the wharfs. It was obvious that the attack had caught everyone flat-footed.

Zoro had started to do the same, only to be intercepted by two seeming officers of the crew. They were dressed far differently than the rest, anyway, which was probably a mark of officership in his opinion. One was a large man with a bald head save a long braided topknot and wearing a red coat open at the front, while the other looked almost like a monkey and had his hair done up like a tiny crown painted yellow.

"Good God," the Straw Hat's first mate muttered, shaking his head as the two of them raced after some civilians only to skid to a halt as Zoro stepped into their way. "The freak show really did come to town today, didn't it?"

"Who the hell are you supposed to be?" said the man with the topknot, his cutlass swirling in an intricate figure eight in front of him for a moment.

"I'm the first mate of the ship that just sank yours to the bottom of the ocean," Zoro said, grinning evilly as he tied his bandanna in place. "What are you going to do about it, punk?"

The two men exchanged a glance, and then the man with the topknot charged Zoro while the other turned, scaling up a building like a monkey before turning towards the port. Down below, the two swordsman crossed swords several times before the monkey man joined them, pulling out his own sword, a giant two-handed talwar with a heavy curved blade and a two handed hilt. "He's telling the truth! The _Divine Providence_ is sinking, and there's this schooner with a weird paint scheme docked in the bay!"

"You'll pay for that! We'll kill you, finish looting this place to the ground, and then take your damn ship for our own!" said the man with the topknot, cutting at Zoro quickly with his blade.

"You're welcome to try, fools!" Despite his words, with the both of them fighting him Zoro was hard-pressed quickly. They pushed him this way and that, keeping him on the defensive by attacking from both sides.

But between one exchange and the next, Zoro was able to slip Wado Ichimonji out of its sheath into his mouth. Now he began to push them back in turn, Santoryu allowing him to attack and defend from multiple angles while throwing both of them off their stride with the oddity of his style.

Both of them were strong and fast though, and they worked together very well. Their blades were also quite good quality, not up to Zoro's present blades, but they would've made hash of any of the swords he'd been using before arriving in Logue Town save Wado itself.

Flicking his head to one side Zoro parried one attack with Wado. He then carried the blade of the topknot man to one side while whipping his twin swords around. They slammed with punishing force into the sword of the gorilla man, hurling him into the air for a moment even though the other man had been able to block the blow more than Zoro would have helped.

The gorilla man twisted himself in midair and was about come back down, when Zoro disengaged from the topknot man. Turning he brought up one of his blades in a tight powerful arc through the air. "Sanjuroku Pound Ho! (36 Pound Cannon!)" he shouted, and for the first time his newly named long-range attack lashed out in a circle of compressed air with violent cutting force.

Despite the surprise of the technique the gorilla man was still able to get his blade up between himself and the attack. But his talwar shattered, and the cutting force of the attacks slammed into his chest, slicing him every which way and hurling his body back limply to slam into a building several blocks away.

"Damn you!" said the topknot man, attacking even more furiously now.

But alone he stood no chance against Zoro. Zoro swiftly locked one blade with his, and slid the other up into the man's ribs. He stepped back as the topknot man fell to his knees, and then Sandai Kitetsu whipped out, slicing into his neck with a short economical swipe that sent the head sliding off the rest of the body.

With that done Zoro cleaned his blades for a brief moment, ruminating. "I wonder if officers should count for more? Yes, those two should count at least 10 normal crewmen each. That puts me ahead of the love cook again." He looked down at the monkey man's tulwar, only to scowl. The blade had been shattered, not sliced. "It looks as if I still have some work to do on that technique, still can't cut steel."

 **OOOOOOO**

A giant, human-shaped black cat wearing boots was making his way through deserted wharfs, the fight having moved on from there quickly. "Sink our ship will you, nyah, two can play that game, nyah."

He was confident in his crew's ability to deal with the rest of the attacking pirates, there weren't many of them, after all. Oh, a few of them seemed to have some interesting tricks, but numbers and the captain's powers would tell soon enough. Besides, the cat-man wasn't one for direct confrontation anyway.

It was ironic, but if he had been, that might well have helped his crew's cause than what he planned.

The cat-man climbed up the side of the schooner, landing nimbly on its main deck. He saw a giant turtle shell lying to one side, but no one else, and turned making for the hatch leading down into the ship. A second later his senses warned him of approaching feet, and the cat-man turned quickly bringing up his rapier as a giant duck raced down from the prow of the ship. "Have at you knave, nyah!"

The duck skidded to a halt as the cat's rapier came up slashing towards him, only for the duck to use his bill to block his blow. For a moment the two of them danced back and forth, the duck matching his surprisingly sturdy bill against the cat-man's rapier. He paid for it a time or two by having to duck barely deflected blows which nearly caught him in the eyes, but the duck fought on fearlessly. A time or two his bill also got through the cat-man's defenses, smashing with bone juddering force into his chest and arms.

But then the duck got in its own way, it's two feet tangling for a moment. It pitched forward, and the cat-man leaped back lightly before smirking, raising his blade to thrust forward one last time. "No mere duck will ever defeat a cat, you foolish avian. Know your place in the food chain, nyah!"

Then the cat-man found himself suddenly in agony as something attacked him from behind. It grabbed onto his shoulder and neck clamping down like a vice and the cat screamed. "NAYAYAAa!"

He dropped his blade in reflex, then began to scratch with tiny claws at the giant turtle that had grabbed him, but the giant turtle quickly twisted its head hurling the cat-man over the side of the ship to land in the water of the port. And unlike most cats, this one couldn't actually swim, sinking quickly to the bottom.

Carue wearily raised a wing and gave the giant turtle a thumbs up, to which Banchi retreated into its shell for a moment, coming back with a cigarette stuck in its lips. Carue sighed, then raced over to pick up a lighter and lit the turtle's cigarette for it before turning his attention to his own wounds, quacking mournfully under his breath.

 **OOOOOOO**

Luffy had dealt with several of the crewmen, but he actually wasn't interested in fighting the majority of the Hawkins crew, figuring his own crew could handle them. No, he was searching for the captain, Basil Hawkins. At first, though he had no luck, only seeing his weird, would-be cultist crewmen, killing most of them before they even knew he was there. After seeing what they had done, Luffy's penchant for mercy had flown the coop.

It was only when Luffy began to turn back that he spotted a man standing on top of the tallest building on the southern side of the city, staring down at the bay. Moving closer Luffy saw the man was very tall, at least a foot taller than Luffy yet with the same sort of build. He wore a long white coat with a ruffled neckline and sleeves open in the front to show his chest where a black cross could be seen tattoo at the base of his throat. On his legs he wore purple trousers and a dark cummerbund or something made of fur sat around his stomach with a lighter shade of purple in the middle of it.

He also had a pink sash around his waist, and some gaudy piece of jewelry hanging to one side finished the other pirate's ensemble. On his waist he also wore a sword with an oddly elaborate hilt. His hair was blond and rather long, and his face was marked by black triangle symbols over his eyebrows.

Behind him were several dead bodies dumped haphazardly in a pile. Their bodies looked almost desiccated to Luffy's eyes, while in front of the presumed Hawkins were a few cards seemingly hanging in the air.

As Luffy hopped across from another roof to land on the same roof the man turned to him, frowning for a moment before looking over at the port. "So this is why I pulled the chaos card before this battle. I misunderstood my cards, an event that happens rarely, yet it does occur," he said slowly.

"Cards?" Luffy asked, his tone almost conversational though his eyes were dark blue pools of fury at present. Two of the bodies on the roof were kids, their parents quite obviously the other two. "You think you're a fortune teller or something?"

"Something like that," the man replied dryly, frowning over at Luffy. "I have heard of you, Straw Hat Luffy. Yet why would one pirate go out of his way to battle another so soon into the Grand Line? Surely Paradise is large enough for both of us."

"Why did you attack this town?" Luffy asked in turn, cracking his neck and knuckles in turns as he slowly pulled off his straw hat, stuffing it into his ki space so quickly it looked as if the hat had simply disappeared from his head. At the same time Luffy noticed that the cards were held in the air by slim pieces of what looked like straw, and staring at Hawkins he saw where the string disappeared into his cufflinks. _So he might be a Devil Fruit user. Okay, I can deal with that._

Basil didn't even glance at the dead behind him, nor did he seem to care overmuch about the fire, smoke, and bodies elsewhere in his view. His face was almost placid. "Twas their fate to die today when they refused to give my ship goods in fee simple for not bombarding their city."

Then the man's face clouded slightly as he turned back to his cards. "I had thought that the chaos I read in the cards was because of my own attack against this port, but it was not."

He flipped one of the cards, staring at it for a moment with what Luffy thought to be puzzlement.

 _A Yin-yang symbol?_ _Didn't even know I had a card like that in my deck._ Basil flipped another, and it came up as Death. _If we fight one of us will die, then._ Looking beyond his cards Basil could easily see the wreckage of his ship, slowly sinking into the water down in the bay below him. _I think I'll take those odds,_ he thought with barely controlled fury, pulling out his sword and banishing the cards for a moment. "And it was your poor fate to face me today."

"We'll see about that," Luffy said grimly. Between one breath and the next Luffy launched himself forward with a speed that none of the pirates he had previously faced would've been able to match, not even Arlong.

But Basil did so, if barely, his blade coming up to intersect one of Luffy's fists. The taller man's eyes widened as that fist didn't bleed when the blade of the sword impacted it, instead his blade bouncing off as if Luffy's hand was made of steel. Luffy's toughness training was such that even without using Tekkai techniques on his hands he could parry sword blows, though it still stung if the opponent was strong enough. Basil hadn't gotten enough into that swing though, and now Luffy was on him.

His hands flashed smashing into Basil's chest then his jaw, hurling him backwards off the roof to land on the ground below. Basil landed awkwardly, but rolled to his feet as if he was uninjured while a small straw voodoo doll appeared from his forearm, passing through his arm like it was made of straw before dropping to the ground.

At the same moment elsewhere in the city Sanji gawked as one of the crewmen he was currently fighting shouted in pain and was lifted off his feet as if by an unseen blow to the chest, hurling himself backwards into a wall where he slid down limply. "What was that about?"

The rest of the crew seemed to understand and shouted at one another for a few moments in a dialect that he hadn't heard before, before many renewed their attack on him while others retreated quickly.

Luffy frowned, loosening his stance for a brief moment as he stared at Basil. "Voodoo?"

"Indeed," Basil replied, his voice still calm despite feeling some chagrin at how quickly he had lost one of his dolls. "I ate the Budo-Budo fruit. I am a voodoo man. You never be able to live long enough to overcome my army of dolls."

"You also talk too much," Luffy growled, disappearing from sight for a brief moment only to reappear behind the man, his leg lashing out. Basil barely turned in time to block the blow with one hand, and he grunted as the pain of the blow activated his power. Elsewhere another Hawkins pirate fell, crying out in agony as he grabbed his hand which was shattered from the palm to the elbow, every bone pulped.

As another doll dropped from him, the blow's impetus came through knocking Basil backward. But he had absorbed enough of the momentum to remain on his face and Basil whipped out his sword quickly, engaging Luffy in a series of slashes and thrusts which forced the younger man backwards for a few moments, until Luffy ducked underneath one blow, his fist hammering into Basil's lower stomach. Basil scowled as the blow lifted him up off it his feet, staggering him backwards for a few moments even as he moved with it, his hand coming out to block another follow-on blow.

Whips of straw shot out from his wrist and hand trying to envelop Luffy, but Luffy broke their grip with contemptuous ease, though he wasn't quite able to duck another sword slash. "Tekkai!" Luffy shouted, and the blow slammed into his collarbone, hurling him away.

Basil tried to capitalize, shouting out, "Dēmonsutorō hōi! (Demon Straw Envelopment)" From both his hands and his chest thousands of straw fibers lashed out.

But Ranma leaped up almost uninjured, rolling with the previous blow and then shouted, "Rankyaku!" The air attack sliced into the straw, and kicking off a nearby wall Luffy launched himself forward, closing with the other pirate. Basil met him with sword and a hand now covered with straw, which would try to grab or envelop Luffy's arms or legs, whichever it was currently blocking.

Every time Luffy's blows got through it was with enough force to shatter bones, or even to liquefy them, almost. And every time, Basil's voodoo powers were activated. As a seventh small voodoo doll burst out from his skin to drop to the ground Basil realized that the other pirate was burning through his voodoo dolls too quickly. _I created twenty of them through my Life-Exchange Sacrament earlier, but even so they are disappearing too fast, I need to change tactics._

He leaped backwards using another straw attack to force Luffy back before bringing his sword down. "Akuma no Goon! (Demon's Roar!)" he shouted.

Luffy grunted in pain as he shouted Tekkai, bringing his hands up to block the incoming air slash. The impetus of the blow still blew him backwards for a moment before he rolled to his feet, his forearms bleeding only slightly from the attack as he launched himself forward.

This brief moment however had allowed Basil to prepare. "Goma no So! (Devil conquering phase)" he said, as several thousand straw pieces seemed to flow from his eyes. The straw quickly encompassed his entire body, which seemed to enlarge until it stood two stories tall. The clothing was the same, but now Basil looked almost like a living voodoo doll, complete with spikes held between the fingers of his offhand.

That hand flashed out faster than Luffy had anticipated, and far larger too. Instead of being redirected by Luffy's block it carried on, hitting Luffy in the lower stomach and hurling him away to slam into a building on the other side of the street. The spikes in that hand also gouged at Luffy's skin, but couldn't break through to draw any blood. The blow's impetus, however, had at least cracked a few ribs, and Luffy knew it.

"Akumo mo Goon!" Basil shouted again, bringing his sword down, his voice distorted through his voodoo doll-like mask.

Luffy growled, leaping out of the wreckage of the building he just smashed through, grabbing at the side of the roof and flipping himself up and out right before the long-range attack struck. A second later Luffy retaliated. "Moko Takabisha!"

The blue energy ball slammed into Basil's chest, staggering him but doing no real damage, except that yet another of Basil's voodoo dolls appeared from his arms and fell to the ground.

"Those voodoo dolls might keep you from being injured, but how many more do you have?" Laughing evilly Luffy charged, and an instant later a sound like none Basil had ever heard rang out at the same time Luffy's arms disappeared. An instant later Basil felt his transformed body shudder as if it had been hit dozens of times. Six more voodoo dolls appeared and fell, burning into ash quickly.

Basil began to get desperate at that point. He hadn't really slowed his opponent down much, and the other pirate seemed able to counter most of his Devil Fruit's attacks. In his "Goma no So" Hawkins was better able to combat Luffy strength, but not his speed, and Luffy had just shown that wasn't enough. _It is not my fate to die today! It is not my fate; it is his! His death!_

Luffy flitted all around the other man, striking with such brutal power that even when Basil blocked it, it still hurt. One of Basil's return blows did get through Luffy's defenses before he could prepare himself, and Luffy felt another rib go, but Luffy went with the punch, soaring into the air and firing three Moko Takabisha in quick succession. Each one cost Basil another of his voodoo dolls, then Luffy was on him again, forcing him backwards.

Luffy noticed that with each hit the other pirate captain was getting a little more frantic, trying now to disengage and retreat, and smiled grimly as he noticed he had pushed Hawkins down to the docks. The other man hadn't even noticed, so frantic was he to either try and disengage or regain some of the momentum of the fight. _Time to whip out my little secret weapon, and if that doesn't work, there's always the ocean too._

An instant later Luffy jumped up over another sword slash. At the same time he reached into one of his ki pockets, pulling out the jutte he had taken from Smoker. Lunging forward he speared the blunt point of it to hammer into Hawkins's upper chest, driving his larger form backwards and down as if the jutte was a spear.

As Luffy had known would happen Basil immediately weakened, dropping to his knees while Luffy maintained the contact between the end of the jutte and Basil's chest. The voodoo doll transformation quickly faded from the point of contact outward, and as Luffy pushed, Basil found himself on his back, the jutte pressing him down. "Sea, Sea stone?" Basil gasped.

Luffy nodded, and while still maintaining his grip on the jutte with one hand, knelt down, lashing out with his other hand in a knife thrust to the other man's throat. This time the blow got through, slamming into and through Basil's throat in a welter of blood. Luffy stood up once more, now pressing down on the jutte with both hands as his raging blue eyes glared down at the other pirate captain.

"My, my fate," the man gurgled, blood gushing from his mouth and the ruin of his throat. "My, my fate…"

"Fuck fate," Luffy said coldly. "This is all me."

With a final gurgle Hawkins gave a shudder and died. Then Luffy, still with the jutte touching the other man's body, kicked it in the side, sending him sideways into the ocean, removing the jutte's tip as the other man's body fell off the wharf into the bay. He stood there on the dock for a moment, watching as the other pirate's body slowly sank deeper and deeper into the waters, then turned and raced to find his crew.

 **OOOOOOO**

"According to Makino and my own questioning, no doctors survived the battle," Robin reported, resting a small towel soaked in water on Vivi's brow in an effort to bring her temperature down as the blue-haired girl lay in bed, panting and sweating, her skin nearly red with some kind of fever.

Robin herself wasn't much the worse for wear, a few scratches here and there, and a few ribs aching, but not broken. The man in the orange witch-doctor mask had put up a fight, but his so-called precognition hadn't been able to overcome Robin's ability with her Devil Fruit.

Luffy stood by the bed the young girl was resting on with Sanji beside him, biting at his shirt in worry. Like his captain Sanji seemed almost entirely unscathed, save for a few scuff marks. Luffy's own wounds had long since healed thanks to his ki reserves.

"And even if there were, there are far too many local wounded for them to care about Vivi regardless of the fact we saved them. The mayor was apologetic about it, and he offered to provision us as much as possible, but that doesn't help us right now," Sanji said, still biting his shirt.

"They are actually done filling our hold now," Zoro said from the doorway, his eyes locked on the young girl on the bed, whimpering in agony from the poison in her system. Zoro had a few cuts here and there, including a shallow cut on his shoulder and up to his collarbone from the monkey man's tulwar, but nothing serious. "Nami just saw the last of them off the deck and is grabbing the log poses. Hopefully they've already locked onto the next island and we can get out of here quickly."

A moment later Nami came in. She took a moment to look at her friend, sadness visible on her face, before she banished it with resolution. "One of the log poses has reset, but the locals say it isn't pointing to the next island on this route. It might be pointing to the next island on the other route, the same one that Little Garden is on, but the locals have no idea what island it could be. The other also reset, but hasn't locked onto a new island yet."

Everyone looked at Luffy, waiting for his decision. Luffy's face was grim as he leaned over the bed, pulling his straw hat off his head and placing it gently on the pillow next to Vivi's head. "Hey Vivi, I'm going to have to ask you to look after this for me okay?" he said, his voice gentle, almost coaxing. For a moment Vivi's eyes opened, and Luffy smiled at her. "This is my treasure, Vivi. You'll keep it safe for me, and I'll keep you safe, okay?"

Vivi slowly nodded, leaning her head against the side of the hat for a moment before her eyes fell back down.

With that Luffy turned to the rest of his crew. "Put on every sail we have, every scrap of canvas in the hold. Nami, you and I will take turns on the helm. Robin and Zoro, you're on sails during the day, Makino and Sanji at night. We keep going as fast as we can whatever weather we run into, just like we did to this island. We head to this other island and pray it has a doctor which can help us."

 **End Chapter**

* * *

The total title, in case anyone needs to be told, would have been Straw Hat Vs. Straw Man, but I figured that would have given the entire chapter away.

In terms of the Supernovas, I think there are only two who could really fight Luffy as he is right now. Law since I don't know how well Ranma/Luffy would do against him if Law could surprise him with his powers, (this is based on what we've seen of his powers and ability to heal himself) and Kidd, who is tenacious and whose power is quite versatile. Basil Hawkins abilities just would not help him at all against Ranma/Luffy with his speed and abilities.

So I've sort of decided to use the daily training as the comedy equivalent of the whole always starving meat stuff in the original, and even then will shift to show only milestones in the training instead of the everyday stuff. Hope it works. Next up Drum Island, then another chapter which will be devoted to getting to know you time among the crew and a brief adventure, then Alabasta, where canon will continue to deform like clay under my hands, OHOHOHOHO!


	9. Chapter 9

Takashi ain't my last name and nor is Eiichiro my first name.

Happy second night of Chanukah to my Jewish fans! Will try to get a chapter a night out until we catch up to where I am over on Pat R on.

This has been looked at by Michael and

Um, a word of warning, with Luffy knowing Geppo there is very little that could be done to make the whole climbing Drum Island thing be as dramatic as in canon. So I decided to do away with a lot of the drama and add a bit of ultraviolence!

* * *

 **Stallion of the Line 9: Kings Crumble before a Stallion's Hooves**

With Nami watching over the Log Pose Luffy and the rest of the crew piled on the canvas as much as they could, which for a schooner rig was quite a lot. They practically cut through the water, possibly going as fast as thirty knots. Which sounded good, Luffy thought to himself as he stood on the port side of the mainmast's topgallant, if you forgot what they were actually trying to do: get Vivi to an island that had a doctor before she fully succumbed to the poison.

Makino had taken over looking after Vivi. She was hopeful that she could at least sweat some of the poison out of Vivi's system for now. Sanji was helping her, feeding Vivi spicy drinks which might make her sweat some. But otherwise there was little any of them could do. Makino had some medical knowledge, but that was for wounds, dealing with gangrene and knowing about scurvy or other issues of that nature, not poisons. And Nami knew even less.

Looking down at the ginger haired girl's bowed head, Luffy frowned. Nami hadn't spoken to anyone since they had realized Vivi was poisoned. She seemed to feel guilty about having allowed Vivi to be injured. Which was silly in Luffy's opinion. It had been a fight; Nami wasn't experienced enough to watch everything in a fight like that, and it had been Luffy's orders that split up the crew. If it was anyone's fault it was his.

"Stop that," Robin said from nearby. Luffy turned to her, and watched as she calmly flipped a page in her book before looking up at him from where she reclined on a chair she had taken from somewhere inside the ship in the crow's nest. Why she was up here in the first place Luffy didn't know. She had joined him about ten minutes ago, but hadn't spoken since. _Maybe she just likes being high up?_

"You were about to blame yourself for Vivi's injuries," she said, and then before he could ask how she knew that she continued before looking down at her book again. "You were frowning, staring down at Nami and then at the doorway leading into the cafeteria. It was rather obvious."

"Shouldn't I feel guilty?" Luffy asked quietly, looking away. "I'm the captain. It's my responsibility to watch out for my crew."

"No it isn't. A pirate crew doesn't work like that. On a pirate crew you have to watch out for yourself first, then anyone else. Your decision to split the crew was the correct one to save the civilians. If your objective had been to destroy the Hawkins pirates then staying together would have been a better bet, but it wasn't," Robin replied somewhat clinically. "Your first mate asked you about whether or not you actually are a pirate, and I have to say that I understand his perspective."

"You didn't complain about the battle when I committed us to it," Luffy drawled, shaking his head.

"No I did not, for reasons of my own," Robin replied calmly, flipping another page.

"Although honestly, I was surprised that you were able to defeat Hawkins so quickly," she went on, looking up at Luffy once more when she hit a line break. "He was known as a rising rookie much like yourself before your meeting. I would've expected the battle to be long, drawn out, and excessively violent, but you handled him almost easily, didn't you?" She wasn't certain about that, but considering that he had not been injured much and that the battle was rather short Robin felt that it was a good guess.

"I was just a bad matchup for Hawkins," Luffy said with a shrug. "His Devil Fruit ability allowed him to absorb and sort of displace damage to his voodoo victims, but I think that aspect of his power took some time to set up and a living subject. But if a person could do a lot of killing type damage quickly, they can negate that easily, which is what I did. His Devil Fruit based attacks were okay, but slow or simply useless against someone like me. If he had been able to use that voodoo stuff on me directly that would've been a much better, harder fight."

"I know that you know the BusoshokuHaki. Is that how you did so much damage?"

"No, and that technique isn't even the most versatile of my tricks either," Luffy said bluntly. "I have a speed technique that I use to do a lot of damage."

Luffy gestured with one hand which suddenly disappeared to Robin's senses as the sound of ripping thunder hit her ears and her hair moved in a unseen wind, separate from the wind pushing their schooner along. "It allowed me to do a lot of damage quickly every time I was able to get through his defenses, and he simply couldn't keep up with me."

"I see. And if that had not worked?"

"Keep my distance, use Rankyakus on him until I figure out his weakness, close, target weakness, end the fight. Or fall back on the old faithful, shift the fight slowly through the city until we were on the wharf then somehow get Hawkins into the water."

"You had it all planned out then?" Robin asked, quirking an eyebrow at this display of tactical acumen.

"Yes and no. In fights like that, you can't really take the time to think things through. Everything has to happen on the instinctual level or you lose precious seconds. Instead, it's more about instinct. You train your mind to swiftly see openings or patterns in your opponent, then to take advantage of them. Training beats actual thinking in a battle like that."

Robin nodded thoughtfully, then tossed out a few scenarios to see how Luffy would deal with them, watching him all the while. It was interesting that such a young man was also such an extremely well-trained and **experienced** fighter. He might've said that it was training, but there was no chance of it simply being training. It was also clear that he was still holding things back.

At the same time, Luffy left her with a bit of a quandary. She had started this journey with the firm belief that she should keep her options open and not betray Crocodile beyond a certain level so that she could later return to his side in order to fulfill her own dream: that of finding the True History on the history poneglyphs. Crocodile thought the two of them were after the same thing, after all.

And while knowing where she stood with him was a bad thing in that Robin knew Crocodile was planning to kill her the instant she was no longer necessary, she also knew that until then Robin was safe. Crocodile would need her to read the poneglyph. _And that is what it's all about, fulfilling my dream. If I can find the True History, I can die a happy woman, and the world will be a better place for it._

On the other hand, she was also a very good analyst of people, and there were both mysteries and positives about being around Luffy. First of all, he was interesting, sharp on his feet in both conversation and battle, likable, and in no way a dominating sort of personality like Crocodile tried to be. Luffy was welcoming and seemed to actually consider her something of a friend even if he wasn't blind to the fact that Robin was using him.

And if he was not understating his abilities the young man also had a decent chance of defeating Crocodile with or without her help. Robin believed he was not understating them. She'd already seen that her own abilities were not enough to stop him, he had an instinctual response to attacks that made any direct assault on him moot, her ability being slightly too slow and not strong enough to get through his defenses. And he knew Busoshoku Haki. Crocodile had seemed both incensed and mildly concerned about that.

He also listened to Robin, valued his crew, and was just…a generally likable person! That aspect put him not only above Crocodile, but above all the other pirates Robin had to deal with over her lifetime. _So it comes down to whether I would be able to achieve my dream with his help, or at least with his connivance, or whether I should remain with Crocodile?_ That truly was the only question in Robin's mind, and she simply could not come to an answer for it, which forced her to keep her options open as much as she could.

On the other hand, Robin truly loved mysteries. It was part and parcel of what had driven her to be the historian and archaeologist that she was and had gotten her into trouble many times both before and since her original training in such back in the Tree of Knowledge.

And there were mysteries about Luffy, things that just didn't add up when you put them all together. If they had been about both Luffy and Makino, Robin would have simply thought that the two of them were keeping secrets from their past, which would have been normal. This was purely about Luffy, and they were tiny, little things she had noticed.

Phrases that he used, like that 'second star to the right and straight on to morning' line back when they left Cactus Island, which sounded like a quote to Robin but not from any book she'd ever read. That didn't really mean anything of course, she wasn't so foolish as to believe that she had read every book in existence. But there had been others like that, and none of the crew seemed to have recognized them either.

Then there was the curse. Robin had never **ever** read or heard of a Devil Fruit power reacting so strangely after the fact. She had heard of the individual who had the power to change genders, or rather hormones, of course. He (or she, the jury was out on that score when it came to Ivankov) had been a major revolutionary officer at one time, and at one point Robin had thought about joining up with the Revolutionaries, though she had eventually decided against it. Robin was unwilling to suborn her dream to someone else's objectives. All she wanted to do was learn the truth of the Void Century, not use it to shatter the World Government as she knew the Revolutionaries would have tried to.

But the curse now, **that** was highly unusual. There was simply no scientific way that the hormone curse could possibly be the cause of later changes of sex linked to an application of water. That kind of thing sounded like an entirely new Devil Fruit almost. That meant that something more was going on there. What that more could be she had no idea, but Robin was willing to go along with the cover that Luffy had created since it had the veneer of sense if not reality.

Added to that, there was something else that bothered her. At times Luffy acted…not old precisely, but older than his years. This was something beyond simply combat experience or having a harsh childhood. Robin was all too aware of her own harsh childhood, and knew the look it gave people. Indeed, the only ones aboard this ship who didn't have that kind of look were Vivi and Makino. But Luffy sometimes looked as if he was an older man in a younger body when he was talking about training with the others, as if he had done it all before. Yet he still was also somewhat naïve towards women. His reactions to her and Nami were not feigned.

All of this didn't add up, therefore the mystery.

Robin was roused out of her thoughts as Luffy spoke up again. "What about your own abilities? Your hands and such were a major help in the first act of that fight, and I understand that you're pretty nimble too?"

"I'm certainly not on the level of the Princess," Robin replied quickly, laughing lightly. "That girl is astonishingly light on her feet. I thought at first that she had already developed Observation haki, but it is simply speed and acrobatic ability. But yes, my power is the Hana-Hana fruit," she said, waving her hand in the air as several forearms appeared from her elbow for a moment before disappearing, leaving little tiny petals behind in the air.

"What is with the petals?" Luffy asked, seemingly diverted for a moment as he leaped into the crow's nest staring closely at the petals before they disappeared.

"I…actually have no idea, though I think there are other Devil Fruit powers that leave behind little after images like that," Robin said with a shrug. "What the cause behind them is I don't know."

"And is there any limit to what you can copy?" He held up a hand before Robin could speak. "I'm not asking about weaknesses or anything like that, I'm just wondering about from how far away you can use your powers and anything else you want to tell me. I'll understand if you don't want to tell me everything, though."

Robin thought hard for a moment, then shrugged. She'd already realized that her power really wouldn't stop Luffy. It could probably work on Sanji, Zoro, and the others, but not on the captain. He was simply too fast, his instincts for being attacked too good. _In fact, I could turn this into my advantage and test those reflexes. Besides, he's probably already figured out how to fight me anyway._

With that in mind Robin brought up her up hands together in front of her chest. She conjured up her power, and eyes appeared on the masthead behind her, heading up towards where the Straw Hat flag was flying proudly above them. Feet soon appeared, wiggling little toes for a moment in a circle all around the banister of the crow's nest. "I can conjure my limbs, eyes, and other body parts like this," she said, her eyes still closed and concentrating on her powers.

"There is no limit to the type of object or individual that I can target to make my limbs appear on them." A second later, a hand appeared on Luffy's inner thigh, before immediately disappearing as Robin had felt something underneath Luffy's pant leg. _Oh my, he's quite a_ _ **big**_ _boy._

She flushed slightly at that but covered it with it tickle attack, noting that Luffy actually hadn't been able to dodge that, and nodding thoughtfully to herself. _So, it's only actual attacks he feels? It seems it is a very specific type of observation haki, then, or perhaps an advanced form? But I've seen him unable to dodge attacks from Nami too… Odd. I suppose that could be a personal choice, but I think it could be another sense entirely._

Luffy eventually recovered from the tickle attack, shaking his head as the hands all over him disappeared. "We-, hah, hah, well, your hands and your eyes for certain make you a valued member of this little crew. We wouldn't have been able to pull off that attack without you for sure."

"Yes," Robin said flatly, turning back to her book. "My powers do make me quite useful, don't they?"

"I don't like that word," Luffy said, leaning over and actually putting a hand on top of the book she was reading, forcing Robin to look up at him, her eyes caught by his. "It makes it sound as if you're a tool or something. You're a person, not a thing, not an object."

"That is often what pirate or marine captains see their crew as," Robin replied bluntly. "Tools, useful tools occasionally, but still tools that can be discarded, traded, or left by the wayside so long as what occurs serves the captain's goals either long or short term."

"Not on this crew," Luffy said firmly. "This crew is a family." He paused, smirking. "A weird, dysfunctional family where some level of insanity is the norm, but still a family. And in that light," Luffy said thoughtfully, still looking at her with his hand over the pages of her book. "I think I want to see if you could use armor haki. That would make you even more dangerous."

"I'm not part of your crew," Robin said, moving his hand from her book but not looking away from his eyes. "You know I'm using you, and I have tried to keep a distance between us in the event that our goals diverge and I must leave to achieve my own ends. Why would you help me get stronger?"

"Because at the moment you are part of my crew, even if you're a temporary part like Vivi. And because I know what it's like to be lonely, to be alone with the whole world against you. All of us on this crew do in a way, I suppose. Though for my money I think Nami had the hardest time of it."

Robin stared at him for a moment, then shook her head. "You're a fool," she said softly, "a stone cold fool." _Let that be a lesson to you,_ _Robin._ _Remember that other people are watching you too. Dammit, I should have noticed that._

"Maybe," Luffy said with a grin on his face. "After all, what sort of person would think that trying to become the Pirate King is a dream for the sane?"

"That I have to concede," Robin said with a chuckle before resolutely returning to her book.

The two of them fell quiet as Luffy turned back to the sea, staring out and ahead of them as the ship continued on its way.

Early the next morning the three boys were on watch, with Luffy at the wheel and Sanji working on the sails, replacing one of them. They lost half of the topgallant sail and royal sail last night, torn apart during a squall, tearing the canvas which they had tightened as much as possible to get the most speed out of the ship. Such a thing was risky, of course, since sails could be torn apart easily in winds that came at them as this one had. They had also lost another one, torn to pieces by hail during an earlier storm.

But it was the only way they could go faster unless, as Nami had shouted during the rain, "You guys get out and push!" The fact that Zoro and the then-redheaded Luffy had actually seemed to be considering it had made her hit them both upside the head. But thanks to the grateful populace of the town they'd saved from the Hawkins Pirates they had canvas aplenty in the hold along with food, so such measures were unnecessary.

Zoro was up in the crow's nest while Nami and Makino were both inside at the moment. The Log Pose was on Luffy's forearm for now because Sanji had convinced Nami to head to bed. She had been awake most of the time they had been speeding towards the island where they met with Hawkins Pirates, and had tried to stay up all night too, only to nearly fall asleep at the wheel.

The older girls were both still awake inside watching over Vivi, intending to switch out with the boys at some point so they could get some rest. They didn't know what kind of reception they would receive at the next island, and Makino's prognosis on Vivi's health was grim enough that they knew she wouldn't survive for long, so it was better to be ready for anything.

Despite that, all three boys were in a cheerful mood as Sanji leaped down from the crow's nest to land next to Luffy, staring at the Log Pose which was now pointing straight ahead as Zoro raced aloft to take his place. Luffy's breath came out in little puffs as he exchanged a high five with the chef. "We've entered a new weather system for sure. That's two hours by the glass of winter weather.

That meant they were getting close to an actual island. Every island in the Grand Line had a single season; spring, summer, autumn or winter; which dominated and created an area around it that showed this. Once you entered an area where the weather remained unchanged for a few hours, you knew you were near an island somewhere, though of course even with that it was quite hard to find an island unless you had a Log Pose or were an extremely good navigator.

"Um, Luffy… I see something weird out there," Zoro shouted from the Crow's nest, where he was using the spyglass to keep a lookout around the ship.

The two men by the wheel exchanged a glance, and Luffy shook his head, shouting back. "You're going to have to be a little more specific than that, Zoro."

"Weird for the Grand Line, I mean," Zoro explained patiently. "There's a guy out there dressed like a chess piece, and he's… He looks to be standing on the water. Oh, and he's seen us."

Luffy and Sanji exchanged a glance, then Luffy leaped up to join his first mate up on the crow's nest. There was indeed an individual out there dressed somewhere between a clown and a chess piece, and he was indeed standing on the water. "How exactly is he doing that? That would be a damn cool technique to learn..."

 **OOOOOOO**

"They seem to be pirates, Wapol-sama. They've got a decent ship, but don't seem to have that large acrew," a voice coming out from a tube into a dim, barely lit room said. "I have spotted only three young men on the ship at present. They also seem to have a giant turtle or tortoise on deck, along with a duck."

"Ma, a turtle. It's been a while since I've eaten a turtle. Lovely! I suppose since they're in the area they also might have an Eternal Pose for Drum Island. We're getting nowhere out here even if we're able to stay within the island's weather system. Raise us up. I want some turtle soup!"

"Bring up the ship! His Majesty has commanded it," another voice shouted, answered by many others.

 **OOOOOOO**

The ocean around the Straw Hats' ship; which was still unnamed the crew not having come up with a name they all liked and now with Vivi's injury not caring, began to lurch and rise as if something else was rising up beneath it. This quickly proved to be the case.

The schooner first rose upon, then was pushed down the sluicing water as a giant circular ship rose from the depths. It was at least seven stories tall from where the keel entered the water to the deck, and it was covered in metal plates from the deck up. The plates made for a dome over the ship, holding the masts and deck within it, and as the Straw Hat pirates watched the metal plates recessed down the ship's side.

As they did so a figurehead on a largebeamwas winched loudly out from the ship showing a hippo's head. At the same time a pirate flag was pulled up the mainmast's flag pole beside the sad looking guy dressed like a jester who had apparently been on lookout. It had a skull wearing a crown and a metal lower jaw with a tongue sticking out to one side in the foreground, and the regular crossbones and black background.

"Okay," Luffy said as their ship settled once more, holding up a card with an 8.5 on it. "You lose points for the hippo face because it is damn ugly. Yet while slow, that **was** a robotic-type transformation and a decent entrance too."

Zoro scoffed, holding up a page with a six on it. "I'd rate it a 6. Size isn't everything, and the entire ship screens overcompensation to me."

Instead of following up on that giant opening from his favorite target, Sanji shook his head and held up another piece of paper, this one with a seven on it. "The whole ship isn't attractive. No woman gave any input into that ship for certain. Even if it has a transformation, a submersible needs to be streamlined, not wallow like a pig, or a hippo, as the case may be."

"How dare you?!" shouted the sad jester that had been on the lookout, a tic mark appearing on his forehead. "How dare mere peons like you make fun of the aesthetics of a king?!"

"A king?" Luffy asked, pointing up at the flag. "I thought he was a pirate captain. Pirate captains do make fun of each other all the time. The world would be a hell of a lot more boring if that wasn't the case."

At this point the three women who were still able to move came out on deck, Nami nearly snorting anger as people began to rappel down the larger ship's sides onto their deck. "What the fuck is going on!?"

"That rocking nearly had the princess out of her bed," Robin said somewhat more coldly then she would normally speak. While Robin wasn't close to the blue haired girl, she did rather like the child's spunk and did not want to see Vivi overly injured unless it served her own ends.

"Wow, you guys really don't take this whole pirate thing seriously, do you?" said a large, exceedingly fat man who had come down, landing with enough force on the schooner to rock the ship lightly.

He wore metallic looking armor around a fat, stumpy looking frame, though he was in actuality quite tall. He wore a coat of some white-furred animal covering his shoulders and head, the head of the animal over his own head along with brown gloves lined with similarly white fur, and heavy looking woolen shorts for some reason. His face was also unusual, with a jaw, top and bottom, made of metal, and he had violet hair that stuck out to either side of his head.

Shaking his head and then biting into a sword, the man chewed thoughtfully for a moment before burping and patting his stomach, eyeing Robin's turtle companion hungrily. The turtle noticed this and actually backed away from the man, his weathered, wrinkled face showing a certain amount of anxiety.

Not even looking at the pirates, the man went on. "Well, whatever. I suppose I should ask just to get it over with. I don't suppose you have an Eternal Pose to Drum Island, do you?"

"No, we don't. Now get off my ship, asshole," Luffy growled, unwilling to start something unless he had to. He wasn't worried about the people who had come aboard their ship of course. But he was worried about the cannons facing them from the ship and splinters. He could probably protect a few of the others, and Sanji, Zoro, and Makino would probably be able to look after themselves. But Vivi, still inside the cafeteria/day cabin under the forecastle, was unable to move.

"Mah, mah you silly hippo. Don't be so hasty to die, eh?" the man said, shaking his head while his eyes slid once more to the turtle before flicking over to the duck, who immediately squawked, hiding behind the larger animal.

Beside the speaker was another strange character. He was a medium sized man wearing a yellow cape that looked somewhat like the fat man's shorts, an orange shirt and shorts, and gloves that looked like giant furry afros. This was made stranger as he had an afro style hairdo, and even his beard had three clumps that looked remarkably like small afros.

This man spoke up now, eyeing Robin up and down, even going so far as to leer at her and then Makino in turn. Apparently Nami was a little too young for him. "Wapol-sama, though they might not have an Eternal Pose, they do have other signs of wealth…"

Robin frowned, and without even moving her arms summoned up several hands which grabbed at the man's crotch and squeezed. "GAAYAYAYAH!"

As the man screamed, Robin turned to the other soldiers all around who had backed up rapidly, one brow quirking quizzically. "Anyone else want to imply anything?"

"NO MA'AM!" they all shouted, saluting and backing away rapidly while the sad jester moved to help the afroed man to his feet, backing away quickly.

For his part the man addressed as Wapol simply laughed at his follower's misfortune. He turned away, staring at the pirate crew, then going back to looking at the turtle. "Mahaha! That'll teach you to keep your eyes on the real prize, Kuromarimo!"

Sanji nearly snorted his cigarette into his mouth at the afroed man's name, looking up at Zoro who was still in the crow's nest and whose forehead now began to twitch angrily. Luffy too smirked, while Robin and Makino rolled their eyes, and Nami giggled.

Wapol, however, didn't seem to notice this, continuing to talk as he licked his lips still staring at Banchi. "We'll be taking all your supplies, of course, as well as searching the ship for treasure. After that we'll let you go if you cooperate. For now, though, I'm still hungry!"

With that Wapol's mouth suddenly gaped open like a hippo's, almost as large as the rest of his body. It enlarged so much it could have chomped down onto the giant turtle's head.

"And suddenly my desire to not start a fight is gone!" Luffy said then leaped forwards.

Several of the cowed men on deck revered at that, raising their rifles towards him. "Fool, don't interrupt the King's meal!"

"So I can kick them now?" Sanji asked, pulling away his scarf and leaping into action as Zoro laughed, leaping down from on high after cutting down the two men who had moved to cover him. He slashed his way through several men closing swiftly with the sad jester who was trying to bring around a bow and arrow from on his back. Surprisingly, he quickly used his bow to deflect Zoro's attack for a few seconds, jumping backwards and putting more troops between himself and Zoro, leaving the still winded Kuromarimo behind for a second.

Even the girls got in on the act. Nami lashed out, smashing her pole into Kuromarimo's already abused nether regions, having sidled up towards him in the few seconds that had passed since Robin's attack on him. Makino took out several of the snipers above them, then was forced to dodge backwards as a few of them attacked her with bayonets. She then stopped running, letting them come to her, and lashed out with fists and feet guarding the forecastle which lead to Vivi's room and where Robin had retreated to.

Closing her eyes Robin summoned up hundreds of hands inside the giant ship, taking out the various gunners manning the cannons aimed down towards the schooner. Surprisingly, only a few of the cannons had been manned. Going by what her conjured eyes could see Robin noted the ship had a lot of soldiers, but they didn't have much in the way of cannonballs or gunpowder. The few manned cannons fell swiftly, though there were still a lot of troops racing up to take part in the battle.

However, by this point Luffy had reached their king. Wapol's mouth had closed around the turtle's head, but only for a second before Luffy's fist slammed into his side. Breath expelled from Wapol's mouth as he opened it in shock and pain while he rolled away. Before he could regain his feet, however, Luffy pulled his foot back and kicked the rotund man as hard as he could, sending him flying over the side of the schooner and out over the ocean. "Get off my ship, you bastard!"

"GAH, Wapol-sama! Retreat, everyone!" the sad jester shouted, turning and racing up the ropes up onto their ship. He was swiftly followed by the remaining troops who had boarded the Straw Hats' ship, including the groaning and weeping Kuromarimo as he was dragged back by several others. At least half of the regular troops had died under the Star Hats' fierce defense, though, and their bodies were left behind, their fellows showing no concern for them at all.

Once Kuromarimo was aboard the large ship it pulled away quickly from the schooner. "After him! How dare they do something so cruel? Wapol-sama is a hammer! We have to go after him before he drowns!"

The poor man that Robin and Nami had…assaulted in a most heinous manner had somehow gotten back to his feet by this point, and he stood at the stern of the ship. His voice was weak and a high alto as he shouted, his voice disappearing into the distance. "You'll regret this! We'll get you for thiiiissss!"

"What was all that about?" Luffy asked no one in particular, shaking his head as the large ship moved swiftly out of sight. "I mean, their captain being a hammer I understood at least, but they seemed rather fixated on…Drum Island…" he trailed off, turning to look over at Robin, his eyes going wide.

Now that the violence was over with Robin began to chuckle, having heard the same thing, though why the other ship hadn't asked if they had a Log Pose or even noticed the one on Luffy's wrist she didn't know. "I do not know if it is your luck or the princess's, captain-san, but either must be quite high. Drum Island is known for its medical knowledge and its doctors worldwide. If we can get Vivi help anywhere, it will be there."

Nami quickly raced to the wheel. "Then what are we waiting for!?"

Near midday the crew saw an island in the distance, and as they grew closer they were able to make out more details. It was a sort of double tiered island. A low cliff abutted the ocean without any apparent letup in sight as they came closer. Further inland there were three gigantic mountains. They seemed astonishingly tall, yet also smooth, and almost cylindrical in shape from what they could see. It looked like they were man made, but the sheer size of them made that impossible. Even giants could not have made something that large easily.

"I will never get used to the geography of the islands in the Grand Line, will I?" Luffy mused, staring at the mountain which had no doubt given the island its name.

"We're going to have to search for an inlet or something. I don't want to leave the ship anchored where anyone can see it. Even if that other ship didn't have a Log Pose or any navigator, they could stumble on us through simply sailing around in the weather zone long enough," Nami said. "We've used a lot of luck lately with our Log Pose actually finding this island. I don't want to tempt our luck further."

"Too damn right," Luffy muttered, shaking his head. "We'll sail around until we find an inlet."

This didn't take long, thankfully, and they found a small inlet leading deeper into the interior of the island. The crew quickly furled the sails then Sanji and Zoro moved to the side of the schooner and began to use two long punting poles to move the ship along. At the same time Luffy used a rope to take soundings.

It was quite deep, however, and eventually the three of them maneuvered the ship into a small cove, though there didn't seem to be any sign of the cliff face coming to an end. There were, however, a series of stone steps leading up a cliff face facing them and a tiny wharf jutting from the bottom of the staircase.

As the ship turned to bring its side alongside the wharf, a sudden shout from above them grabbed everyone's attention. "Fire!" From above a fusillade of musket balls lashed down at the crew.

Despite that the crew was quickly able to dodge the barrage. Nami had been training for moments like this and fell into Kami-E, flowing around the bullets aimed at her, while Zoro took his swords out and began to use them to block the incoming bullets. Luffy and Sanji simply ducked and dodged in place, while Robin and Makino hid behind the mainmast, then ducked into the door leading into the day cabin.

At Robin's quizzical look the older woman shrugged. "Just because I can use Tekkai to take shots like that doesn't mean it isn't painful. Besides, it's always better to dodge a hit than take it, whatever your defense."

"Sound thinking," Robin replied, even as she crossed her hands and began to summon up eyeballs all along the top of the mainmast, then on the cliff, moving upward towards the attackers trying to get a view of them.

Outside, Luffy had just about enough of this. He leaped up into the air and began to use Geppo to ascend up the cliff. He was forced to dodge this way and that as the riflemen got over their shock and started to take him under fire, but Luffy was easily able to deal with this. Musket balls had nothing on his Ji-Kure's fists in terms of speed, let alone hitting power.

Behind him Sanji quickly did the same, ascending far faster than Zoro would've been able to. His leg strength had been astonishing before the Geppo training, so he'd taken to it quickly.

When he reached the top, Luffy found himself confronted by what looked like a people's militia of about forty firing at him and his friends. Most of them looked like average citizens of a winter island, but one of them stood out from the crowd. He was at least a foot taller than the men around him and as wide as two normal people, with massively muscled shoulders. He didn't seem to be firing with the others, rather he was trying to get them to calm down, waving his arms wildly. He wasn't having any luck as yet.

Cupping his hands around his mouth, Luffy shouted at the top of his lungs. "Stop firing, you idiots! I can understand why you'd fire on a group of pirates, and we won't take it personally, but we're here to see a doctor! That's all, we don't even need any supplies. We're not here to attack you!"

"We're supposed to believe the word of pirates!?" shouted someone in the crowd.

Luffy scowled, deciding to put a stop to this crap. He stopped dodging and caught the musket ball as it came at him, crushing it in his grip before he tossed it back underhand to the man who had tried to shoot him as the man gaped at him. At the same time Sanji came up over the edge of the cliff. "Well, you could take my word for it, or my friend and I could simply wipe all of you out and then go searching for a Doctor on our own. We won't be turned aside, but we also don't actually want to hurt anyone!"

At that the fire finally abated, and people began to listen to them. Luffy tipped his head slightly in gratitude, flipping his straw hat off his head as he did, waving it towards the schooner. "Our friend down below is sick, please, and we need a doctor. We've kept her alive as well as we could over the past day, but there's no way she'll survive to another island."

The large man Luffy had noticed before nodded his head slowly. "We have your word that you mean no harm to anyone on this island?"

"Unless your doctors refuse to see us because we're pirates, I mean no harm to anyone on this island," Luffy said seriously, tipping his head forward once more.

After a moment the man nodded. "Follow me, then."

"Dalton-san!" shouted someone else, looking aghast.

The large man turned to him, smiling lightly and patting the other man's shoulder. "Don't worry, I'll watch over them. Besides," he went on, his voice both concerned and morose. "It doesn't look as if we were doing much to them anyway."

"Robin, Zoro, Makino, you three stay here," Luffy ordered as the rest of the crew made their way up the cliff to his position. "Just in case that crew we tangled with finds the island I want to be able to repel them from here."

Dalton, who had just turned away to lead the group into the island, turned back now. "Wait, you ran into someone nearby?"

Luffy nodded and explained what had happened. In reply Dalton's expression turned first flinty then happy as he heard how Luffy and his crew had dealt with them. "Then we are grateful for your arrival, stranger. But if they are in the area we need to keep a lookout. Thank you for your crew's help."

"Not a problem," Luffy said with a shrug as Sanji came up the path with Vivi on his back. "If pirates wanted to be welcomed everywhere, we wouldn't be pirates in the first place. He looked at Nami and Robin who both smirked back at him. "Besides, I think at least one of that crew has a major bone to pick with a few of ours."

"Judging by what my hands felt I wouldn't call his bone major at all, even before I crushed it," Robin replied dryly, eliciting a giggle from Nami and Makino and winces from all the men, even Luffy.

Not understanding that at all, Dalton merely began to lead the group away into the forest towards the nearest village. At the same time he started to explain what had occurred recently on the island. A pirate crew had attacked about three to four weeks ago. But instead of trying to fight them, the king of the island, Wapol, had escaped to sea with most of the army and his two primary advisors.

"He didn't even try to fight?" Sanji asked incredulously. "And he called himself a king?" To his side Luffy growled agreement as Vivi, who had weakly opened her eyes a moment ago as Nami had put a hat over her head, snarled. But she was too weak to say anything, and soon her eyes closed once more.

"'The king is more important than the land. The king is the country. The people do not matter in comparison to the king!'" Dalton said, spitting out each word as if it was a curse. "All that really matters is the royal family and its favor."

"And the pirate crew?" Luffy asked somewhat dispassionately now, though he had noticed Vivi's moment of fury and actually hid a smile at that. _Good girl._ Still, he was not unused to cowards after all, and frankly he bet that there were more royals out there like Wapol than Vivi, who had put her life on the line for her kingdom.

"They ravaged the land a bit, though they didn't kill as many of us as they could have. They were simply interested in stealing as much food as they could carry and wiping out a town that tried to turn them aside. It was as if they didn't care about us at all. They simply lashed out at times when they got bored. Not, mind you, that we had much in the way of gold or anything of that nature anyway after the king had escaped with his treasury." Dalton scowled, shaking his head. "I, I couldn't do anything to them. I challenged one of the pirates to a fight, and he beat me so easily it was appalling. I was lucky to live at all."

In any other circumstance Nami would have tried to get Dalton to continue talking about the treasure, but not with her friend hurt. "That's nice and all, but where the hell is the doctor!?" Then she paused staring at an odd creature coming out of the woods. It looked like a bear, but had a back pack and a hiking stick. "What the…"

"Oh, that's just a walking bear. Bow your head as it passes, and it won't attack." At those words the pirates did so before continuing on following Dalton.

Moments later they came to a small village. They moved quickly to a small house at the edge of the village. Many of the villagers, women and children for the most part, shouted out Dalton's name. They wanted reassurance about the strangers and the fact their men hadn't returned from the cliff yet. Dalton stopped to speak to several of them, waving the Straw Hats on to his house.

Inside they had time to lay Vivi out on the bed and for Nami to whip up some hot tea from the small kitchen before Dalton rejoined them. When he did, Luffy reiterated Nami's question, leaning against the wall next to the bed as Sanji sat on the foot of it. Nami took up position on a stool, leaning back against Luffy's leg as her free hand rested on Vivi's brow.

"There is only one doctor on this island at this point, though we call her a witch. She is rather…" Dalton paused trying to think about how to describe the witch of the island before shaking his head. "Indescribable?"

He sighed, looking down at Vivi for a moment, cocking his head to one side as if he recognized her somehow. Shaking his head, he moved back to the here and now, though his eyes were even more inquisitive as he stared at the pirates. None of his thoughts, however were revealed in his words as he continued to explain Drum Kingdom's current straits. "You see, a few years back Wapol decided to round up all the doctors and push them into a group called the Ishi-20. Once he had control of them, he charged the people exorbitant amounts for any use of them, while they were there to always help him."

"This is all making me very glad that Vivi is asleep," Nami muttered, shaking her head as she looked at her friend. Behind her Luffy smirked, having seen Vivi wake up earlier for a few minutes, but he doubted she would be waking up again soon.

"At any rate, Dr. Kureha, the witch, evaded capture for a time, along with one other doctor named Hiluluk, though he is no longer with us." Dalton's teeth ground for a moment at that before he went on. "She still continues to move around the island drawn by a reindeer-led carriage, though many people have sworn that she actually seems to fly through the air on it."

"Santa Claus?" Luffy muttered, causing Nami to look up at him quizzically, but he waved her question away, instead addressing Dalton. "So where does she live?"

"She lives in the king's former palace on the top of Drum Island. She moved in there when he escaped as a way to rub Wapol's nose in his cowardice. But getting there is going to be insanely difficult. Your best bet is to simply wait here and hope she comes down to visit one of the villages around the island. I can send word out to the other villages on the island so if she appears anywhere they'll know to ask her to wait, and we can travel to her quickly."

"No," Luffy said simply. "It's been nearly a full day since Vivi's been poisoned, and she is fading far too fast for me to trust to that kind of time consuming plan. I'll simply take her up there now."

"You can't! That mountain is far, **far** taller than the cliff face. It's also much colder. The cold may kill you just as quickly as the climb," Dalton protested.

"I'm not going to try to climb. I'll air walk just like I did by the cliff. The height doesn't matter to me. The cold though, that might." Shrugging his shoulders, Luffy remove the coat he had been wearing, putting it around Vivi as he looked over at Sanji. "Sorry, Sanji. I know you want to look after her, but you're still not as good at Geppo as I am, and I can take the cold better than you can too."

Sanji ground his teeth angrily but nodded. Then he reached out and grabbed Luffy's red shirt, pulling him in close. "You protect her, you hear!?" he shouted, shaking Luffy almost comically as he began to bawl. "My precious Vivi-chan! Oh, I am so sorry your previous knight cannot be the one to save you and must leave it to this swine!"

"I'll…look…after…her…Sanji," Luffy said between shakes. "Besides, this will let you stay here to watch over Robin, Nami, and Makino in case of trouble."

"That's true!" Sanji exclaimed shaking his head and moving away to bow grandly to Nami, who had remained by the bed as Luffy moved around her. "Oh how I wish I was two people so that I could protect all of the flowers at once."

Luffy pinched his nose briefly, looking over at where Vivi was still sleeping in the bed, then over at Nami who was giggling and leading Sanji on a little, exclaiming over how she was so happy he would be here in case Wapol and his crew showed up once more.

He picked Vivi up swiftly, cradling her in his arms and making for the door. He stopped by the door, looking at Carue, who like Sanji looked like he wanted to help get his mistress cured. "Don't worry, Carue. I'll get her help."

The duck squawked once, then got out of Luffy's way, watching him step outside.

"The top of the mountain, you said?" Luffy asked over his shoulder at Dalton who had followed him, still somewhat astonished or perhaps horrified at Luffy's plan. Still, he nodded and watched as Luffy leaped into the air, bouncing away like a rabbit heading up a staircase.

Dalton gaped after him, shaking his head. "I saw it on the cliffs, but is he serious? Do you really think he can make it all the way up like that?"

"I don't know how far up into the air he can go. But I have learned that betting against Luffy is a losing proposition," Nami said, shaking her head. "Come on, let's head back to the cliff. I bet Robin would like some tea, and we need to stop Makino from needling Zoro to death."

 **OOOOOOO**

Luffy estimated that he was about thirty stories' height in the air, and he still could not see the top of the mountain, but the air was growing very cold very quickly.

He looked down at the girl in his arms as she stirred suddenly, her eyes opening blearily as they had earlier that day. He smiled down at her, shaking his head. "Go back to sleep, Vivi. I've got you."

"S, sorry L, Luffy-san, for, for being so weak," she whispered feebly.

"You're not weak," Luffy said firmly while continuing his ascent. "Poison is a coward's weapon, and you're very strong for not having succumbed to it over the last day, to my way of thinking, anyway. Besides, you already proved you were strong and daring. Infiltrating a criminal group to save your island? That takes guts doesn't it, and strength too. Remember Vivi, willpower is to physical strength as ten is to one."

With that he winked at her. "Don't worry, Vivi. You'll get better, and we'll head on to Alabasta and save it." Vivi flushed more than her current weakness allowed for, but nuzzled his chest as Luffy continued to speak. "I've got you. Trust me, Vivi. You're going to be all right."

 **OOOOOOO**

Mr. 3, his partner, and the partner-less Ms. Valentine had arrived on Drum Island shortly before the Straw Hat crew, having arrived here to see both if the Straw Hat crew would come here and if they could learn about the pirate crew that had attacked the island. After all, it was on one of the two routes to Alabasta. They had bypassed Little Garden, knowing that place was a death trap, and having Eternal Poses for each of the islands in the area around Alabasta had allowed Mr. 3 to plan accordingly. That was part and parcel of what made Mr. 3 such an effective agent: he planned ahead, and was quite ruthless in enacting his plans. However, Mr. 3 was rather worried.

Ms. Valentine was currently high up in the air spying on the Straw Hat crew, as she had been unable to confirm that Robin was travelling with the Straw Hat crew for the purpose of recruiting them. It was evident that they were still traveling together towards Alabasta, despite the fact that standing orders were to not allow any possible agent level recruits near the island until Mr. 0 had confirmed their loyalties in some fashion.

That might be pointing to the Ms. All Sunday having betrayed them, which would put Mr. 3 in a very dangerous position. He knew where he stood in combat ability to most of the other agents. If he could take Ms. All Sunday by surprise then perhaps he could kill her, but doing so would be extremely difficult given the woman's abilities and reputation.

There was also the problem that he would probably not be able to call upon his partner to help. Miss Goldenwee had a somewhat decent relationship with a few of the other agents which included Ms. All Sunday, and would probably be unwilling to help him against her. Capture perhaps, but not kill, and capturing the woman would be next to impossible in his estimation given all the rumors about her.

 _Still, if we can separate them, we could perhaps take on the Straw Hat crew. We know more about their abilities now thanks to Ms. Valentine and my own estimations, and I am not like Mr. Five, who always relied solely on his Devil Fruit power rather than any intellect he might have possessed. Separate them, trick them... Yes, my power is excellent at that…_ Mr. 3 thought as he sat in his wax house, sipping tea while his partner sat across from him, sipping her own tea and painting on her canvas.

Ms. Valentine soon came down to report what she had seen, setting aside the large kite thing that she had been using to cover herself in the air. From the ground she would have looked like an albatross high up in the air. "That thing is amazing," she gushed to the young girl. "You really do have a talent for painting, don't you?"

The girl blushed slightly, then winked at the older girl, and Mr. 3 coughed delicately to draw their attention to him. "And what did you see, Ms. Valentine?"

The blonde woman winced, moving over to the pot of tea and putting her hands around it to warm them. "It's them, all right. I'll never forget that damn sword using bastard as long as I live. But it's worse than that. I saw Ms. All Sunday with them too, and, and I think I might have seen someone who could have been the princess who was mine and Mr. 5's original target. She looks badly wounded or sick, but…"

Mr. 3 frowned coldly at that. _It is clear then. Ms. All Sunday has betrayed us. Or, or is she playing a long game here? Is the girl some kind of hostage? Though that is a change from our original orders I suppose it could make some sense… Drat it, I need to talk to her._

With that thought, he shook his head. "I will approach Ms. All Sunday. We need to know what's going on. But that doesn't mean we need to be foolish about it…"

 **OOOOOOO**

It did not take Sanji, Nami, and Carue that long to get back to where they had left the ship. But during that time the ship they had tangled with that morning had spotted Drum Island and swiftly began to make its way there. Regardless of the weather of the Grand Line, the fact that compasses didn't work, and all of the other dangers, once a ship was within sight of an island it could, unless it was being navigated by someone like Zoro, find the island without further trouble.

Wapol moved to stand at the prow of his ship, throwing his head back as he cackled. "MAHAHAHAH, I'm coming back, my kingdom! MAHAHAH, your king will soon be home once more!"

 **OOOOOOO**

On the island the Straw Hat crew on guard with the island's militia had begun to get bored very, very quickly. Or at least, one of them had. Nami was working on her maps on a foldout table hidden among the trees. Robin was sitting on a lounge chair sipping at a cup of steaming hot tea from a pot Sanji had prepared, who was bouncing between the two of them and Makino happily. Makino helped organize a few of the militia men to bring some pine needles and cones down to the turtle. Carue spent his time staring up at the mountain in the distance and pacing around.

The problem was, alas, the first mate who outside of combat, talking about fighting and swords, or drinking, had an attention span more akin to that of a small child. "I'm going to go explore for a bit," Zoro said after only about an hour on watch, having at last reached the limit of his endurance. "Shout if you need help, aho-cook."

"What was that, you national treasure!? Was that, 'I want to eat my own intestines for dinner, Sanji,' I just heard?" the cook shouted back.

However it was the green haired woman who had the most snappy response to Zoro's statement. "Wait, Zoro. What do you mean you're going to go explore?! How will you find your way back here, you little lost child?"

The two of them had continually clashed heads on this point, with Makino's teasing going from simple teasing to being rather pointed in tone. She did not like how Zoro simply refused to admit that he had a problem with directions, knowing that it would eventually get them all into trouble.

For his part, Zoro thought she was simply being a crabby bitch, though he was intelligent enough to never say so aloud. "Ah, get off my case woman. If I get lost I can just follow the damn cliff face. It's not that big an island, after all."

"I suppose so," Makino replied, holding her chin as if she was thinking deeply on his response. "But still, Carue?" The duck looked over from where he had once more been staring toward the mountain. "Could you go with Zoro, please?"

"Gwah!" the duck replied, even going so far as to salute with one of his wings before moving over to take Zoro by the hand with one of his wings.

Sanji laughed loudly and went into his normal flirtatious mode, exclaiming that Makino was as funny as she was beautiful. Zoro simply grunted and turned away, stalking through the woods after shaking Carue's grip off. The duck however just continued to follow him as per Makino's request.

A little ways back from the rest of the crowd Robin was sitting against a tree wrapped in a woolen coat with a large pot of tea to one side as she reclined on the makeshift chair, one of several dozen that the inhabitants of the island had brought out for the militia to use while on watch. Robin figured that the others would spot something, and that would allow her enough time to prepare herself despite her position well back from the others.

She paused between one page and the next, her long dexterous fingers halting in place as she held the page for a moment before letting it fall to one side and continuing to read. Then she slowly stood up and laid the book to one side. She picked up the mug of tea, pouring herself some before sloshing the pot from side to side as if it was empty, which it actually was by this point. With that Robin walked off, knowing that none of the militia man or the rest of the pirate crew had seen her move.

She quickly moved through the woods towards a snow bank, that when you got closer to it you would realize was a little too solid. It was, however, a very good approximation, and you had to look very closely to see that. _Mr. 3 then. He always has been quite good at infiltration missions._

"And what brings you to this island, Mr. 3?" Robin asked, swiftly stepping around the front of the snow bank so that no one else would be able to hear or see them. That this also brought her within sight of the man himself was not incidental.

Mr. 3 looked at her, then took a few steps backwards, a little uneasy at how quickly Ms. All-Sunday had spotted him from so far away, not having noticed she had conjured up several dozen eyes in a circle around her former position. Then he flicked his eyes over the snow bank towards where the militia and the Straw Hat crew were lounging around. Obviously they had no idea what could be going on in the woods.

Looking back at Ms. All-Sunday he knew he had a chance to take her out before anyone noticed, but to his chagrin Robin was already on guard. He had barely begun to create the series of traps he wanted to use in order to confront her on a possible even footing, and he knew he was at a disadvantage in a direct confrontation unless he could lead her deeper into the woods, where his traps were already laid out in spots.

But right now, facing the woman, he did not feel at all confident of his ability to deal with her even alone. She was too suspicious and too experienced to be taken in by his tricks or let him lead her anywhere.

"I was ordered by Mr. 0 to pick up Ms. Valentine, and we were on our way back to Alabasta when reports of the attack here reached us. I decided to check and see what pirate crew had attacked this island, though as far as I can tell there were only four crewmen, and they ravaged the entire country. I had intended to see if I could find any more information about them to pass on to Mr. 0 just in case they showed up in Alabasta. But then we heard news of your arrival, and I hastened over here as soon as possible."

"I noticed that your snow bank was painted. Does that mean your partner is around here somewhere?" Robin asked pleasantly. She could tell the man was lying and was somewhat concerned about his speaking with Ms. Valentine and what that could mean, but she was unwilling to instigate anything just yet. While Crocodile's need for her was immense, it wasn't enough for him to overlook her outright betraying him, and doing so might well completely block her from fulfilling her dream, to find and read the poneglyph hidden in Alabasta.

Moreover, Robin had a spot soft spot for Miss Goldenweek, or Katherine as was her real name. She was not a killer, not even a criminal really, just a girl who was going along with things. Mr. 3 was her uncle and he had been watching over her for the last few years and she was too passive and laid back to care overmuch about anything.

At those words the little girl in question popped up from behind a tree, waving at Robin. "Hey Ms. All-Sunday!"

Mr. 3 groaned to himself, but went on gamely before his niece and Robin could change the subject. "How goes the recruitment of the Straw Hats?"

"Their captain is a stubborn individual," Robin replied blithely. After all, it was the truth. "And he has a tremendously large dream that he is chasing. Would you believe he wants to be the Pirate King?"

She felt a little bad about denigrating Luffy's dream like that, but he wasn't here to hear it, and it certainly seemed to disarm Mr. 3 as he shook his head at the naïveté of youth. "As for the others, I have gotten the cook and navigator on board to the idea of joining Baroque Works. They are much more intelligent and understanding of how the world really works. The first mate is coming along slowly, but surely, as is their bursar, though their loyalty to their captain is admirable."

"Are they really worth the trouble?" Mr. 3 asked as if he didn't know about Vivi. The more information he had about the group the better, after all.

"I believe so, yes. Their captain could face off with Mr. 1 and win handily, and their first mate is at least a little bit better than Mr. Two, which could also be said for the chef. That kind of addition to our military power should not be overlooked."

Robin had already determined that Mr. 3 knew more than he was letting on, so she was only speaking in generalities, wondering if he or one of the others had seen Vivi being carried deeper inland. _Yes, that would fit his pattern. He would be too fearful to attack me physically, so would be fishing for information to use at a later date._ She frowned, thinking hard to herself even as she continued to speak about how Luffy had dealt with Basil Hawkins, which alone would have made him a good target for recruitment.

 _What to do? What to do!? If I fight Mr. 3 now, that will no doubt be seen by Crocodile as my cutting all ties with him. I will lose his backing to get to and read the poneglyph, no matter how much he would need me to read it in the first place. But if I let Mr. 3 go, the same event might occur. Can I convince Mr. 3 that I am playing a long game? Or… Or can I somehow bring him alongside?_

Katherine was no trouble. Once she was told the truth about Crocodile's aims, the girl would throw her loyalty to Baroque works over the side as easily as Robin would an apple. _Her loyalty to her uncle, though, that could be trouble._

Before Robin could decide what to do, a shout from the shoreline brought their attention towards that quarter. "There's a ship out there! Is that the one that the king escaped on?" A moment later the shouts of consternation and fear went up from the entire militia as Makino or one of the others must have confirmed that it was indeed the ship the Straw Hats had dealt with that morning.

"What's this?" Mr. 3 asked, looking in that direction even as one hand went behind his back, beginning to form wax there. The wax slowly dripped from his hands down to the snow and moved through the snow as slowly as he could make it. The white of the wax melded into the snow too.

Robin frowned. "We dealt with what we thought was a pirate crew in the area this morning, though it turned out to be the king of this country. He apparently escaped after that pirate crew you mentioned attacked the island and has been attempting to come back since."

"I see, And the Straw Hat crew has agreed to fight them for the Islanders? For what reason?" Mr. 3 asked. "For some fee I presume?"

"I suggest you get out of her here quickly unless you wish to become involved in the fighting," Robin said not answering his question. With that she moved to step around the candle-snow bank.

"One final point Mr. All-Sunday," the man said then shouted, "Candle lock!"

Robin jumped up, avoiding the runnel of wax that suddenly shot up out of the snow trying to grab her hands and legs as Miss Goldenweek gasped looking at her uncle in shock. "What are you doing?! She's on…"

"She is not! She has betrayed Baroque Works to the Straw Hat crew!" Mr. 3 shouted. "Now get ready to use your Colors Trap!"

The girl looked a little torn for a moment, before slowly putting paint to her canvas.

Robin, however, had already crossed her hands over her chest. Hands appeared on Katherine's body tickling her, while others removed the paint supplies from her hands even as Robin dodged more attacks from Mr. 3. Having already spread out several dozen eyes, she knew what few trees weren't real but were actually wax creations, so she was able to remain free and moving. Even the few candles he had placed here were snuffed by a few fingers appearing and disappearing.

Nearby the battle on the coastline had already begun, with cracks of musket fire and shouts echoing through the woods covering this bit of action. But it had also reached Zoro, who had not yet left hearing distance, and he came charging through the woods, two swords already in his hands. "Eat that, Makino! The sound told me where the action is. Who needs that damn duck now, woman!" he shouted to himself as he came out of the woods nearby.

Seeing a strange man with a burning three on his head attacking Robin, he didn't ask questions. Instead he simply shouted, "Tora-Gari!" And two of his swords flashed into an attack as he charged forward.

It was all Mr. 3 could do to throw up a candle wall to block the assault. He gasped, however, as the swords sliced through the wax halfway before stopping, and he jumped backwards, shouting aloud, "Now, Ms. Valentine!"

From above came the cackling laugh of Ms. Valentine announcing her presence as she dropped like several tons of bricks, heading straight towards, not Zoro, but Robin.

But as she passed through the pine trees around them a web of hands suddenly appeared from several different directions pulling her off course. Instead of her leg smashing into Robin, the girl found herself flipped and slammed to the ground headfirst. Ms. Valentine's weight might have changed, but that didn't actually add much to her durability. The impact, with all of her own enhanced weight behind it, knocked the girl out like a light.

Looking between Mr. 3's current stalemate with Zoro and the sounds of battle occurring nearby, Robin shrugged and moved in that direction. She could leave Mr. 3 to the swordsman for now. Her powers were better used to take care of crowds anyway, and Zoro seemed the type to get irritated if she stuck her nose in. _Besides, he was going stir crazy before. Best to give him an outlet for that energy_.

Walking off through the woods as if she didn't have a care in the world, Robin called out over her shoulder. "Watch out for the colors trap from Miss Goldenweek. They will affect your mind and force you to act in different manners depending on the color. They travel along the ground until the mark is right beneath or on you. But if you hurt her, swordsman-san, I'm going to do to you what I did to that black-afroed fellow this morning!"

Grunting and actually covering himself protectively for a moment, Zoro nodded frantically before turning back to his own opponent. Zoro pulled his swords out of the large wall of wax or something, glaring at its owner as he recovered his rather frayed dignity. "Who are you, and what's your beef with that conniving woman?"

"None of your concern," Mr. 3 said coolly, his hands coming up and ready as his mind thought furiously, his candle-candle powers dripping down from his hands. Behind him his partner scrambled in the snow, grabbing up her drawing utensils and scowling a little.

Katherine didn't know who to believe here. Ms. All-Sunday had always been nice to her and had even helped teach her how to read. The idea that she had betrayed Baroque Works was strange. However helping her uncle defeat the strange green-haired swordsman was something she could do easily.

Turning to use her powers on the swordsman who was now exchanging attacks with her uncle, Katherine stopped as a yellow streak zoomed into the clearing. The streak paused, forming into a large duck who stared at the two men, wiping his forehead as if relieved.

Carue had actually lost Zoro at one point as they moved through the forest and had been worried about what Makino would do to him for losing his charge. His appearance, however, actually put him closer to the young girl than the two combatants, and he turned to her, cocking his head quizzically as he wondered what her role in this fight was. "Guah?"

At the sight of the giant duck the girl suddenly screamed, throwing her stuff into the air and charging off through the woods shouting, "I hate ducks!"

Confused, Carue chased after her for a moment, then turned and looked at Zoro before deciding to continue to chase after the strange girl, still wondering what was going on. But this looked too fun for him to ignore.

The two men stared after the animal and the young girl, sweatdrops on their faces. Then Zoro looked over at Mr. 3. "Some kind of phobia?"

"Of a sort, yes," Mr. 3 said, frowning thoughtfully as he scratched at his chin. "She was given a book on animals from one of the other agents, only Mr.7 bought her a book on animal biology. She liked ducks and so read the chapter about them, and well… Let's just say ducks are freaky little bastards in a lot of ways."

The two blinked then turned to one another, and Mr. 3 quickly shot his wax forward here and there. Some of the wax formed into trees that began to try and wrap around Zoro as he ducked and dodged. Other rivulets of wax shot out of the snow at Zoro directly while Mr. 3 kept backing away trying to open the range. He disliked direct confrontation at the best of times, and he had to get a better handle on how good this swordsman was before trying to come up with a specific strategy to use against him.

Zoro, however, wouldn't give him a moment's piece to set up his traps in the area, which combined with the cold and the wind meant he couldn't use his favorite trick of using candles to spread flakes of wax to slow his opponents down. The swordsman's swords flashed around with a speed Mr. 3's attacks couldn't keep up with. Despite that, he had a plan, and began to lead the swordsman deeper into the woods.

 **OOOOOOO**

At the cliff the militiamen were firing down at Wapol's ship, but the king's ship was so tall that they lost much of their height advantage against his troops. Further, they had come into the inlet with most of the men already up in the rigging and ready for battle, putting them nearly on the same level as the defenders.

Chess was there, and his arrows were doing quite a bit of damage in conjunction with Kuromarimo, who had been unable to engage the Straw Hats when they met him this morning thanks to Robin's swift response. He tossed highly flammable afros up into the militia men's positions, which Chess set on fire swiftly, burning people and covering foliage away swiftly. Fire was practically everywhere on the cliff thanks to the two of them, and scaling ropes and ladders had already clanked into place as the king was slowly hefted up over the cliff face.

Then Sanji was there, charging forward with a kick that nearly took the king in the face. "Get out of here, you shitty king!"

"MAHAHA, foolish hippo!" The king shouted, opening his mouth gaping wide to chomp down on Sanji.

But Sanji stopped mid kick, dodging to one side in a twirl on his pivot leg, coming around with the roundhouse kick. It caught the king in the side, hurling him back down onto the ship with a thunderous crash. "GAHH!"

Beside him Dalton had charged forward too, his massive spade coming off of his shoulder and hacking down several dozen men, hurling them over the sides of the cliff. While his victims shouted at him, calling him captain Dalton, the man himself began to slowly transform.

Sanji paused, pulling his cigarette out of his mouth for a moment as he stared at Dalton's new form, breathing up a spiral of smoke even as he dodged a few musket balls coming his way. "Devil Fruit?"

"Zoan Type, Bison!" Shouted the man, then charged forward towards another clump of soldiers that had ascended the cliff, bowling them over like ninepins. "Hold the cliff, my friends. If we can keep them from using their numbers against us, we can win this!" Dalton's exhortations were answered with a roar, and the militia men fought on doggedly despite the fire and the musket balls of the army which had suppressed them for so long.

Despite Dalton's shouts, however, it was Nami and Makino who had taken command of the militiamen. Well, mostly Nami. Her shouting of orders and simply smacking heads together had forced the militiamen to back away from the bushes the moment their cover had begun to go up like little miniature bonfires thanks to the afro man's afro attacks. At the same time Makino had tried to take out Chess only to be forced out of position by his own attack. Having retreated from the cliff face she could no longer target him, as he had stayed on the ship, while his arrows kept on coming up on a parabolic trajectory into the defenders.

Scowling, she dropped her pistol and pulled out a short sword from her ki expanded pouch, moving towards the fight now spreading across the cliff face. "I'm going to sneak forward and cut all of the grappling ropes. Dalton's right, if we can keep more of them from getting up the cliff we can win this fight."

Shaking her head, Nami moved towards her, grabbing her shoulder. "Don't!"

Just then the king had reappeared over the edge of the cliff, huffing and groaning as he pulled himself upright. "I am so angry I can't even find the words, you damn hippos!"

Beside him, Chess and Kuromarimo had also jumped up as the militia men retreated, moving further into the woods. Half of them were down by this point, dead or injured, while the soldiers had possibly lost a little over half the troops that had attempted to scale the cliffs.

"You, all of you are traitors to your king!" Wapol bellowed, and more than one of the militiamen looked actually terrified, though none of the pirates present understood why.

"You dare call yourself a king!? After you ran off, abandoning your people to those pirates!"Dalton roared back, moving forward, smashing several soldiers out of his way. "A king is meant to serve and defend the people as your father did, earning and repaying their loyalty for his position! Yet you abused and used your people with your taxes and your Ishi-20! And when you were called upon to defend your nation, you ran like a coward!"

"Bah, the king is the country, Dalton, as I have always said. You never understood that, even when you served as captain of my guard, you silly hippo." Wapol shook his head mock sadly while at the same time Sanji tried to close with the king once more, but was kept at bay by Chess and Kuromarimo. Makino and Nami were kept away similarly by the rest of the group of soldiers, who paid for it badly. "I protected myself, and thus the kingdom is saved!"

"I will never allow you to call yourself king of this country again! Never!" Dalton shouted, charging forward.

"Hoh, so you challenge me again, Dalton? Hah! Chess, remind me what I've eaten today?"

Chess pulled back slightly and flipped open a notebook, then began to read aloud quickly, knowing Kuromarimo could not hold off the kick using pirate for very long. "Hai. You have had four cannons sautéed in wine sauce, seared artillery lasagna with mortar stand sandwich, fifteen servings of cannon ball spaghetti, along with a garnish of gunpowder."

"What the hell does that guy eat?" Sanji muttered, standing up from where he had gone down on one knee to try and scrape off an afro ball.

"This is his power, the Baku-Baku fruit! We have to charge now!" Dalton shouted, quickly putting action to words. "We can't let him transform!"

Shrugging, Sanji charged with him, though other than the giant mouth and his ability to eat even his enemies he hadn't seen anything that dangerous from the would-be king.

In reply to their charge Chess and Kuromarimo moved to block them. But instead of firing at Dalton, Chess fired past him towards the militiamen as Kuromarimo hurled his afro balls in the same direction.

Dalton swiftly halted his charge, moving in front of the arrow and grabbing it out of the air. But the afro stuck, and Chess chuckled as another arrow swiftly flew towards it. "Too predictable, Dalton! You really are just too soft, aren't you?"

But his arrow shattered midair from a musket ball from Makino, and Dalton charged forward once more.

But the two officers had gained their king enough time to finish his transformation. "MAHAHA, you foolish hippos, behold the power of the Baku-Baku fruit! Fortress Wapol!"

His body grew to three times his original size, while several dozen legs appeared out from his side, clamping down onto the ground, his armor changing to look thicker and tougher. From his shoulders and chest several dozen cannons poked out of various armored apertures, and his hands too were now cannons. He pointed them all forward and fired.

At the same instant Sanji hurled himself to the side, taking Nami to the ground and Makino shouted, "Tekkai!"

The explosions seemed to rock the entire area for a moment, hurling trees and people around. None of the militia remained standing after that, and Robin, who had just arrived on the scene after having dealt with Ms. Valentine, was flung backwards through the trees and brush with everyone else. She landed, cracking her forearm and head against a rock, but otherwise unharmed thanks to the snow on the ground. Her head was ringing and her arm sore, her eyes refusing to focus for a moment, but she was among the lucky ones.

Dalton was still standing, but he had taken a direct blow from a cannonball. The front of his body was bleeding from numerous cuts and burns, and his eyes rolled up into his head as he fell forward unconscious.

Nearby Makino grunted, pushing herself out of the snow with difficulty. Her loose snow jacket was pretty ruined, and one of her legs was badly gashed in several places. Makino's Tekkai hadn't been able to cover her entire body before the explosion, and the shrapnel from it hit her position.

Sanji was quite a bit worse off since his own training in Tekkai had not gone very far. However, he pushed himself to his feet readily enough, glaring angrily at the king as Nami groaned from beneath him, pushing out of the snow.

"MAHAHA! You stupid hippos are at least a little more durable than the traitors, but even you will never be able to fight Fortress Wapol!" Wapol shouted as his officers moved to stand beside him. Behind them, more troops from the ship began to pull themselves up the cliff.

 **OOOOOOO**

At around the time Wapol's ship was spotted out at sea Luffy landed on the top of Drum Island's massive mountain. He stared up at the castle, then further up at the flag flying over it, a pirate flag with a series of sakura petals scattered across the normal skull and crossbones symbol. "A pirate flag? I suppose given the fact the she's moved in here and stolen this place that makes a little sense," he murmured to himself. "Hopefully the doctor is in, Vivi. I really don't want to have to wait around for her."

When he got closer he was surprised to notice that the large gate into the castle was open. Shrugging that mystery off as well he entered, shouting "Anyone in here! I've got an injured person here to see the doctor?"

After a moment no one had answered, and he moved towards the staircase, still shouting for help.

Before any had taken reached the second floor however, he was interrupted by a shout from behind him. "Trespasser! Get back Doctorine!"

He turned and blinked as a giant furry creature that looked sort of like a Sasquatch attacked him, charging forward and throwing punches and kicks with little skill or speed to them in Luffy's opinion, but with a lot of stood taller than Luffy, and far wider too, with coarse but spare fur covering his frame, thicker on his chest and shoulders, and wearing a purple hat.

Behind him there was an older woman, looking to be around his grandfather's age or so. She was a tall woman with a thin appearance wearing clothes that were more suitable for someone Nami's age living on an autumn island: tight jeans and a jean jacket over a tight shirt with some kind of design on it.

He began to dodge backwards, ducking under and leaping over punches and kicks with ease, even with Vivi in his arms. "You don't look like the doctor considering I was told that was a woman, but…" *duck, dodge* "…I'm here with a patient that I'd like…" *duck dodge* "…her to look at, and will you stop that!?" he said suddenly, kicking the beast's hand up with one leg, ducking underneath another blow while nearly performing a split before flipping himself upright his leg coming up in a tight arc which caught the creature on the chin, hurling him backwards.

He looked at the old woman who entered behind them monster and nodded his head to her. "As I was saying, I have a patient for you to look at, baa-san."

"HAH?!" The woman suddenly growled, her eyes gleaming with the rage as her face stiffened into a mask of anger. To her side, the creature suddenly squeaked, transforming into an odd looking reindeer guy, waving his hooves frantically trying to mouth something at Luffy, but Luffy didn't understand. "Baa-san!? I'm still a hail and youthful hundred-and-thirty-nine!"

With that the old woman attacked, a giant axe appearing from what Luffy still thought of as hammer space at times, coming around in a wide arc to cut Luffy in half. Luffy was still carrying Vivi, and he decided for the second time today he had once more had enough of just dodging around when her life was in danger.

His punch flashed out, shattering the axe edge-on and then moving so quickly backwards that the woman had no time to react before he was holding the remains of the shaft, wrenching it out of her grip. He then hurled the shaft behind him and glared at the woman.

The woman, for her part, stepped back with a faint smile on her face as she inspected Luffy once again from head to toe. "No ordinary pirate could've done that. Who are you, boy?"

"I'm Monkey D. Luffy, the man who will be the Pirate King!" Luffy said, then allowed his teeth to flash in a shark-like grin. "And you just threatened my crewmate! Now, are you the doctor or not!?"

"D., is it?" the woman stated, staring at him for another few seconds before looking down at the girl in his arms. Poison or some kind of infection, she diagnosed immediately, before turning away. "I'm Doctor Kureha boy. You've at least come to the right place. Bring her up to my room. We'll see what we can do for her."

Luffy nodded, looking over at the little creature as he made to follow the older woman. The little creature had gasped, going into something like shock as Luffy had dealt with Kureha's attack. "And you?"

The question seemed to shake the little guy out of his shock and he mumbled, "Tony-Tony Chopper," before rushing after the older woman.

Only a few seconds later Vivi was ensconced in a warm bed on the third floor as the doctor and Chopper worked on her. "Poison definitely, from a frog of North Fleria, the Tomasineri genus," the woman said, moving over towards a book then looking over her shoulder at Chopper. "How should we cure it?"

Chopper replied quickly, though he did not look happy, the reason for which he spoke aloud after responding to Dr. Kureha's question with some medical jargon Luffy couldn't follow. "But the actual medicine does have some short-term side effects, worse it's been a full day or more since she took the injury. The blood vessels and capillaries around the area struck by the dart will make her skin sore to the touch for a week or more. The medicine will also cause her to suffer a few convulsions occasionally over the next few days, and her eyesight will suffer for a few days."

"But she'll pull through?" Luffy asked, looking at the tiny reindeer.

The tiny reindeer nodded, not looking away from the patient. "She'll pull through."

Luffy nodded, watching as the two of them worked for a time in silence, then asked, "So, Devil Fruit of some kind, I'm guessing?"

The reindeer looked up, almost glaring at Luffy for a moment before turning back to his work as they began to create a medicine they would give Vivi and a poultice to put on the wound itself. He was creating the poultice while Dr. Kureha was creating the medicine. "Yes, I ate the human-human fruit when I was young. What's it to you?"

"Nothing, just wondering. You sure seem to know your stuff, Doctor Chopper."

"BAAKAA!" Chopper shouted in reply, actually dancing in place for a moment as he stood on the stool he had to use to reach the table. "Praising me like that won't make me happy!"

"You look plenty happy to me," Luffy deadpanned. "But have you ever been trained in hand to hand? Your moves were okay for an amateur, but you could do with a lot more training and experience."

"As if anyone would train a monster like me to do anything!" the little creature scoffed, shaking his head and stopping his dance. For a moment he was silent, then asked, "Are you really a pirate?

"Yep," Luffy said with a grin.

"A real one?"

"Yep. I have a pirate flag, I have a bounty, I have a dream that I am willing to follow to the death. That is what makes a pirate," he said catching Chopper's eyes with his own and a grin. "Not taking whatever you want or plundering where you will, and not simply having a flag like your former king apparently does."

"Wapol?" Kureha asked at the same time as Chopper, both of them turning quickly to look at Luffy.

"Yeah, we met up with him this morning and gave him a bit of a beating, but we couldn't stop to chase them down and finish the job." Luffy watched as Chopper tensed, growling angrily under his breath. "You got a problem with that fat tub of lard too, huh? Dalton mentioned how Wapol treated the people of this island, so that makes sense."

Chopper and Kureha were both silent, unwilling to go into details of their very personal hatred for Wapol. The suicide of Doctor Hiluluk in his attempt to blow the king and his army up with him was a sore point for both of them despite the years that had gone by since. Kureha, however, nodded once as she turned her head to look at Luffy. "Well, at least you gave him a beating. Still, knowing he is still around the island's zone makes me uneasy."

"Understandable, though my crew's on guard with the island's militia to make sure they don't come back." Luffy continued to look at Chopper as he spoke, a small smile appearing on his face. _Decently strong, check. Iinteresting personality, check. Doctor's skills, certainly sound like a check to me. And he seems to like pirates, so…_ "Y'know, Chopper, you seem pretty interested in pirates. So, do you want to join my crew?"

"EHHHH!" Chopper shouted, turning and jumping backward, smacking his back against the wall. "Who'd want to do that, baka? Never, baka!"

"Oy Chopper! Watch out! You nearly dropped the beakers!" Kureha shouted, then turned to look at Luffy as Chopper regained control of himself. "You've got a lot of nerve, boy, trying to recruit my apprentice to your crew right in front of me."

"I'm a pirate whose dream is to be the Pirate King. Nerve should've been assumed… Baa-san." Luffy replied, smirking.

Kureha twitched angrily, her hands tightening over her own beaker for a moment before she stomped over to the bed. "Bastard. You better be able to pay for this bit of medical magic we're performing here, and I'm going to add at least half again to my bill for being a mouthy asshole!"

"Heh, I get that a lot," Luffy replied, winking over at Chopper, who had to look away before he burst into chuckles. "But I was serious, y'know, Chopper. I think ya'd do really well with my crew. So long as you have a dream, that is?"

Chopper flushed, then looked away. "Of, of course I have a dream. But, but why would you want to, er… I mean, look at me. I'm short, I have a blue nose, I have horns and, and I change forms. I'm a monster!"

Pushing up her glasses Kureha glanced over her shoulder at Chopper before turning back to Vivi. _Let's see how you handle this, D boy._

Luffy cocked his head thoughtfully to one side, then shook his head. There was obviously a lot of pain in that word for the youngster, but Luffy wasn't going to be able to get to the bottom of it in one conversation. "In terms of being a monster you're not nearly strong enough to earn that name from me, and…" Luffy moved over to a nearby pail of water, pulling off his long coat as he did.

While Chopper, and now Kureha, watched, Luffy dumped the cold water over his head before shaking her hair out of her eyes and smirking at the two island natives. "Your body ain't the freakiest thing I've ever seen, kid."

"GAAHH! What the hell are you!?" Chopper shrieked, staring as Kureha stood up, moving forward, her eyes lighting up in interest.

"Don't even think it, Doc. I'm not gonna let you poke and prod me. I've had it up to here with that reaction," Luffy growled, raising a now somewhat smaller fist in the older woman's direction. "It's some kind of reaction to a Devil Fruit attack I was exposed to as a baby. Yes, it's real. Yes, it's a full body change. No, my mind doesn't change."

Luffy looked over at Chopper, her face serious. "I've been called a freak, a monster, hell, even an abomination in my time, though admittedly that last one only once. But let me tell ya the truth about such words, Chopper: they only have power if you let them. If you believe the words, they have power over you and the people who label you that way too. I'm fine with being called a freak; I'm fine with being a monster, as long as I'm still me up here." The redhead tapped her forehead and her chest over her heart.

Chopper stared at him for a moment before turning like he was standing on a turnstile going back to his work. Luffy looked over at Kureha, who smirked at him, nodding her head before touching Vivi's forehead lightly. She smiled slightly as her medicine had already begun to kick in, fighting back the poison.

Just then there was suddenly a loud explosion of sound in the distance, and Luffy twitched, heading towards the window and out leaping out quickly. "Huh, looks like even an idiotic pig can get lucky once in a while."

"Wait, you idiot, we're three stories up!" shouted Chopper, racing towards Luffy while the doctor simply looked on.

Chopper watched as Luffy didn't drop from her jump, instead bounding up into the air. Luffy quickly spotted the second ship that had dropped anchor in the cove and the battle going on at the cliff. But from this distance she couldn't make out any details.

She hopped back down then through the window where Chopper stared at her. "W, what are you!?"

Luffy cocked her head, then smirked. "I told ya Chopper. I'm a monster." While Chopper stared, the redhead moved towards the bed. "Are you all right here? Only that Wapol guy's arrived and I'd like to get back to the rest of my crew just in case."

"What!" shouted Chopper, moving forward to stare up at Luffy. "He's back!?"

"From what I was able to see from here, yes. Now, if you'll excuse me…" With that Luffy turned away, only to stop as Chopper grabbed her leg.

"Wait, let me come with you!" the reindeer man shouted.

Luffy looked down at Chopper then over to Kureha, who nodded her head slightly. "All right then, climb up on my back and let's go."

With that Luffy turned around and once more leaped into the air and away. Kureha watched them go from her seat by the bed, frowning thoughtfully. "D, huh? A boy with that name, a dream like that, his skills and that charisma of his? Interesting."

 **OOOOOOO**

"How dare you! How dare you aim those shitty cannons of yours at the ladies!" shouted Sanji, flicking away his cigarette as he stared angrily at Wapol, literal fires in his eyes.

"That's what you're bothered about?" asked a few of the groaning militiamen around them. Surprisingly many of them were still alive, though battered and in no shape to fight.

"Sanji-kun, If you don't stop posing and do something I'm going to hit you!" Nami said sweetly, pushing herself to her feet and once again looking around for a makeshift weapon. _I_ _really have to look into getting myself a new staff! Those shorts club things that Luffy called tonfa are okay, but I spent too long training with a staff to change now._ Both of her tonfa had been shattered during this fight, and she had been making do with shouting orders at the militiamen from behind their lines and using any weapon that came to hand.

"At your command, Nami-san!" he shouted in reply, spinning once to bow grandly to her before spinning away from another cannon blast which slammed into a tree right behind him. That sent splinters everywhere, but Sanji ducked and dodged in place for a moment, before launching himself forward despite how battered he was.

Despite his enthusiasm, however, at that moment it was just Sanji against all three of the attackers, and all he could do was just dodge around most of the time, keeping their attention on him. Wapol and Chess would stay at range firing cannon balls and arrows, while Kuromarimo would hurl his black afro balls, which did nothing unless ignited by a fire arrow from Chess, while keeping himself in between Sanji and his king. Sanji quickly found that his afro covered fists were actually quite strong.

Thanks to his training with Luffy, however, Sanji was able to dodge and set up an attack after ducking under a punch from Kuromarimo. "Mutton Shot!"

The kick slammed into the man and sent him flying backwards to smash into a few of the soldiers who had been climbing up the stairwell, throwing them all backwards and off the cliff face. Smirking, Sanji then leaped over another cannon blast, which slammed into the ground where he had just been standing. "One down!"

Behind Sanji, Robin was able to finally gather her senses, pushing herself to her feet and crossing her hands over her chest, her eyes dark and angry. Over forty of the soldiers had ascended the cliff face by this point, though most of the others who had done so were already down by this point as well. These new troops would quickly join them.

Hundreds of hands began appearing all over them, grabbing their chins, lower legs, and arms, and then twisting them into shapes as she growled, "Mass Cuarenta Fleur, Clutch!"

Turning at the sounds of some forty spines shattering, Wapol gaped then twisted around swiftly, bringing his cannons arms to bear on Robin. "You fucking hippo!"

Unfortunately for Wapol, at that point Luffy and Chopper appeared on the scene in no uncertain fashion.

 **OOOOOOO**

Having bounced far, far faster towards the sound of battle than she (at the time) had dared move with the sick Vivi, it hadn't taken long for Luffy to come within sight of the fighting, and now she came up with a plan to end it in one fell swoop as well as give Chopper a chance at a bit of revenge. And maybe to have a bit of fun at Chopper's expense. _That'll teach him to scream in my ear like that and nearly knock my hat off._ "Hey, have you ever heard of a dive bomber?"

"Um, no. What's that?" Chopper asked, still clinging to Luffy's back, his eyes slightly wild under his large hat.

In response Luffy reached behind her and pulled the little reindeer off her back, smirking at him. "You can change into that giant form whenever you want, right?"

"Yesss…" Chopper said slowly than his eyes widened as Luffy pulled back the arm that was currently holding him. "Wait, what the hell are you…"

Before he could continue Luffy hurled him down towards the battle like a large ball. Luffy followed Chopper down just as quickly, canceling her Geppo and simply plummeting for a bit, building up speed before twisting around and kicking off the air to add even more speed, zooming down at a diagonal now.

 **OOOOOOO**

"You utter asshole! Heavy Point!" a voice shouted from on high, causing everyone but Robin and Wapol to turn in that direction, even Sanji who had charged forward to try and stop Wapol from attacking Robin. Robin was busy dodging to one side while trying to conjure up hands on Wapol, but he was simply too big, and he shook off her attempts easily. He chomped at one of the hands, and she grimaced angrily, pulling them back in.

"Damn it, you stupid hippo, stay still and take your punishmEEENT!" Wapol was interrupted by a giant circular furry mass suddenly plummeting down onto him from above.

"Your Majesty!" Chess shouted, turning quickly but far too slowly. Wapol was borne to the ground so hard his frontal armor shattered along with a few of his ribs under the blow. Chopper had hit like a cannon ball of similar size, though Chopper was not hurt in turn at all thanks to his Heavy Point.

Swiftly Chopper changed forms, shouting aloud, "Heavy Point!" Now instead of a ball of fur, he looked sort of like the original form he had worn when he had attacked Luffy back in the castle, only with less fur except round the throat and wrists, and with even more muscle.

A second later Chopper slammed a Heavy Point punch into the side of Wapol's head, sending the king's head lolling to one side with several broken teeth, before he hammered a few blows into the man's neck, not giving him any moment to try to activate his Devil Fruit power. To the side at the same time, Sanji engaged Chess in close, where Chess began to use twin axes to attempt to get through him to the king.

Wapol was tough, though, and his hands shifted suddenly into a giant axe in one hand and a giant hand in the other. The hand clamped down on Chopper's arm, holding him there against him as he pulled himself up onto his knees. "It's you! That beast that followed that stupid Hiluluk around! How dare you assault the king, you hippo! The punishment for that is death by indigestion!"

"Shut up! You, how dare you mock the doctor's sacrifice!" Chopper growled, trying to wrench his arm loose, but then he heard a whistling noise behind him.

Just as Wapol was about to chomp down on him, Chopper quickly shrunk back down and bounced away, and Luffy struck. With all the added momentum of her fall behind Luffy, the blow must have been like that of a giant even without Haki added to it. It shattered Wapol's entire face, hurling him backwards and off the cliff face, past the inlet and out to sea screaming in pain.

Landing quickly, Luffy leaped into the air again, hopping over the cliff herself to hover in the air over the two ships below. Luckily for the Straw Hats, Wapol's forces had been so busy trying to fight their way up onto the cliff and through the defenders that they hadn't attacked the Straw Hats' ship. Even Robin's turtle was still around, having ripped out half of the railing along one side and dropped down into the ocean.

Luffy took a moment to think that the turtle would be a bitch to get back aboard before turning her attention to the ship below her. "Rankyaku!" A few air pressure attacks lashed out, cutting through the masts and deep into the large ship's bulwarks, though Luffy's attack still couldn't cut through steel.

Behind him Sanji at last dealt with the increasingly frantic Chess, who had tried to break off their fight and run for it, either to get away or to chase after his king no one would ever know. Sanji's kick took him in the neck cleanly, breaking his neck and sending him boneless to the ground.

From down below a group of white smocked doctors rushed out onto the deck of the large ship, having been kept back until the fighting was done. They all now held up their hands. "We surrender! We surrender!"

Luffy paused in her destruction of the ship, then looked over at Chopper. "Who are these guys, Doctor Chopper?"

"Doctor?" Chopper said, then shrunk in place to his normal body, clapping his hooves together and dancing in place. "You bastard! Hearing that doesn't make me happy at all, you bastard!"

"You look happy enough to us," said more than one voice as Luffy laughed.

Chopper still quickly answered the question, and Luffy paused in her attack until the Ishi-20 had moved off the ship. Then Nami interrupted them from her position in the snow where she had ducked under a few stray afros shouting, "Wait, wait! Let me search it for treasure first."

Sighing, Luffy put a hand on Chopper's shoulder directing him over to the wounded. "You get started with that lot, especially that big guy, Dalton. I think it will be up to him and the rest of the militiamen how we treat these prisoners."

As Chopper nodded and raced off to the badly injured bison Zoan, Luffy turned to his crew, wincing slightly as he looked at Makino and Nami, then moved over to help Robin to her feet as Sanji did the same for Nami. "You three all right?"

"Toughness training," Makino said, shaking her head, wincing as she inspected her leg. "We're going to have to start toughness training. I know it will be painful, Nami, but those cannonballs were nowhere close to us, and the impact of the explosions took us both out of the fight far too easily."

"I guess I can agree to that," Nami said, looking over at Luffy. "Is Vivi okay?" she asked anxiously.

"Being seen to by doctor Kureha up at the castle. That explosion from earlier grabbed my attention, and me and Chopper hurried on down here."

Nami paused, looking between the wrecked ship below them and the castle, then sighed. "Would, would you mind taking me up?" Nami asked hesitantly, as if the words caused her actual physical pain. "I need to apologize to her."

"I don't think you do, but sure, as soon as your wounds have been attended to we can do that."

"Good," Nami replied, smiling for a moment before she turned and shouted at Sanji. "Sanji-kun, that means it's up to you to ransack that ship! I want our share of the loot, do you hear me!?"

"Hai, Nami-san! Leave it to me!" Sanji said, dancing in place, hearts coming into his eyes.

Rolling her eyes, Luffy looked around for a moment before frowning angrily. "Where's Zoro? Don't tell me he got lost and missed the fight. I will rib him so damn badly about that."

Having closed the distance between them Robin spoke up now, shaking her head. "He did not," she said before Makino could send a jibe at the swordsman. "He was actually still nearby, but I had detected the presence of a low-numbered agent and decided to see what was going on there. Swordsman-san came upon us moments after this battle began."

Luffy looked at her as did the others. "Negotiations broke down, I take it?" Luffy asked. What she was really asking was, "are your bridges burned," or something similar, but Robin still understood her.

"Quite so. I assume that Mr. 3 spotted Vivi when cook-san carried her to the town," Robin replied. "I put down Ms. Valentine, who was still alive apparently after your swordsman dealt with her partner on Cactus Island. Then the battle began here on the cliff face, and I decided my powers were better used doing crowd control than one-on-one." Robin gestured towards the dead or crippled soldiers lying in heaps all around the cliff face to illustrate her point.

"Sound thinking," Luffy said with a nod, still looking at the slightly older woman thoughtfully.

She sighed, then answered the rest of the redhead's question. "Yes, if word gets out that I dealt with Mr.3 so, my bridges will no doubt be very burned. However, other than Mr. 3, his partner, and Ms. Valentine, there were no witnesses, so hopefully that is not the case."

Luffy's eyes narrowed, but she eventually shrugged. _Robin really is desperate to keep her options open, though I doubt she really has. Still, best to let her figure that out on her own._ "Whatever floats your boat, I suppose. You've already given me more information about Crocodile and the rest than I had, so that's good enough for us for now."

Breathing a sigh of relief, Robin smiled at Luffy, thankful for her tolerance if not understanding.

"But still, I wonder where…" Luffy was interrupted as there was a furious tearing noise in the distance, and she turned in that direction, seeing a line of trees suddenly explode from some kind of blow, and then nodded. "I think we just found our swordsman. Excuse me a moment." With that she raced off in that direction, leaving the others to Chopper's mercies.

By this point Chopper had dealt with Dalton and raced over to Sanji, ordering the chef to sit down on the snowy ground. "Let me look at those wounds. Jeez, how are you even moving!?" Chopper shouted.

Watching the little creature work, Nami smiled suddenly. "So, you're a doctor then? What's your name?"

Chopper looked in her direction, but did not stop working, turning back quickly. "Tony Tony Chopper!" he replied brusquely.

"You're very good doctor," she said, watching as he flushed, but did not turn away from his work again. "How would you like to be part of our pirate crew?"

Now Chopper looked away, scowling slightly. "Your captain asked me the same thing. But, but don't my looks… I mean, look at me. I have horns and I'm a reindeer and, and I'm a monster!" he shouted, pretty much saying the same thing he had to Luffy.

"Kid, on a scale of one to ten in terms of monsters you're not even a three," Sanji chuckled, shaking his head, before his head dipped, and storm clouds began to appear on his head. "Our captain though, he's a freaking ten! He has this, this lovely little curse but, but what does he do with it!? Nothing!" With that Sanji fell down into a moaning and weeping pile.

While the girls simply shook their heads and Chopper looked on smiling as the crew, despite their injuries, began to josh and tease one another. It felt homey almost, and Chopper felt himself joining in.

 **OOOOOOO**

With Zoro on him every moment, Mr. 3 could not break off to set up any traps. Even his suit of armor, Candle Champion, took time to mold around him, and Zoro didn't let up. However Mr. 3 had planted trap areas here and there throughout the forest, fake trees made of wax or rocks and other things. Some of them still had actual candles hidden within them which let loose Mr. 3's most insidious assault: tiny little pieces of wax which would stick to the targets of his assault, slowly encasing them in wax.

Most of the time he used that attack in large quantities against individuals already captured in his larger, more obvious wax assaults, but Zoro was too quick, and too strong too. Several dozen times Mr. 3 was able to catch one of Zoro's legs or arms in a candle lock only for him to shatter them swiftly. And his direct assaults, wax spears or hammers, simply didn't work. Even when he used them to try and cover Zoro's hands in the splash when Zoro cut through them, the swordsman hurled the bits and pieces of wax away from him.

For his part, Zoro was getting annoyed. Mr. 3's abilities were keeping him from getting a good shot in, and he was thinking on his feet to a degree he had never been forced to do before. And it was only the training he had received since meeting Luffy that allowed him to match his opponent's versatility. His strength, for one, was enough to break out of the wax, but more than that it was his speed and ability to predict the splashes of Mr. 3's wax attacks that allowed him to keep up the momentum on Mr. 3.

Zoro frowned for a second, however, as he cut through another attack, staring at his arm before twitching to the side and around before lashing out with his own attack that forced Mr. 3 to change his next assault into a wall that just barely stopped the man from being cut into. This allowed Zoro to glare down at his arm where a thin veneer of wax was slowly forming. "Hmmf, more underhanded tricks, huh?"

"I prefer to think of them as winning strategies," Mr. 3 retorted, a smile appearing on his weary face. "Hah, can you feel it, Roronoa Zoro? Your limbs slowing down? My wax will eventually cover you entirely, and then…!"

"You talk too much," Zoro grunted, then steeled himself. "Tekkai!" As his body firmed up, all his muscles strained to the nth degree, Zoro moved into one of the speed katas that Luffy had taught him.

There was a ripping noise, and he grimaced as pieces of the wax came off his limbs and chest, taking away bits and pieces of his snow jacket as his muscles and tendons strained further than he'd pushed them before. After all, Tekkai was never designed to be used on the move. You had to stand still for at least a short amount of time to use it. But Zoro had just broken that rule. He would pay for it later, but what did that matter to the first mate of the Straw Hats? He would deal with his injuries later.

Mr. 3 stared in shock as Zoro tore himself free of the wax veneer coating him, and nearly didn't dodge Zoro's next attack in time, ducking to one side as Zoro's blades slashed through where he had been standing, cutting deeply into his leg instead of his chest as had been Zoro's target. Frantically he called out, "Candle Surprise!" Reaching out with his power he liquidized the heretofore solid wax trees and rocks around them, snuffing out the candle's flame on some of them as he tried to capture Zoro.

The sheer amount of wax that came at him from every direction almost overcame Zoro's ability to dodge, since he still wasn't used to being able to use Geppo automatically in his personal style. The wave of wax nearly captured his feet before he pushed off the ground far enough to avoid it. Then for the next few seconds he was busy cutting and hacking at the wax wave that still tried to envelop him, as well as keeping his feet in the air.

When he looked up Mr. 3 had readied his next technique. With his leg now bleeding and fearing returning to his employer with nothing to show for it, Mr. 3 decided to go for the kill now instead of trying to run away. He now stood across from Zoro, his body covered in a suit of armor with a massive chest and shoulders in comparison to rather scrawny legs. "Behold, Candle Champion! Your swords will matter not at all to this suit of my strongest, most reinforced wax! Its strength is like that of steel!"

"Oh ho," Zoro said, breathing hard even as his eyes glinted, pulling his bandana out and tying his hair down as he put Wado Ichimonji in his mouth. "In that case,, if I can cut you, then I've taken another step in my journey to cut steel!"

"Fool. I'll make you sorry you ever tried to fight a Baroque Works agent!" shouted Mr. 3, charging forward his arms and windmilling. "Candle Champion Charge!"

"Onigiri!" The two charged one another and met, with Zoro having ducked under Mr. 3's attacks, his blades flashing. Mr. 3's armor shattered, and his body was hurled out of the armor to land nearby. The wax had blunted enough of the cutting force such that he was only unconscious, bleeding severely, but not cut in two like his armor had been.

Breathing out, Zoro shook his arms out for a moment, the reverberations having got to them for a moment. _Still have a ways to go before cutting steel, I suppose, but it's definitely a step in the right direction._

"Zoro!"

Zoro turned at that shout to see Luffy come out of the woods around the battlefield. She was carrying the little girl that was apparently Mr. 3's partner, who was trying to bite her with scant success, Luffy simply smirking at her. "You have any idea why this one was running away from Carue?"

"Keep that thing away from me!" the girl cried, leaving off her attempts to bite Luffy's hand and nearly scrabbling out of her grip as the duck appeared out of the woods behind them.

Zoro nodded, waving one sword at the duck. "Head back to the ship," he ordered before looking back at Luffy. "Let's just say that she thinks ducks are weird creatures for some reason. Don't know what that's about, but it's enough to scare her."

"Not even going to ask," Luffy chuckled as the girl calmed down. He looked over at Mr. 3, then shrugged, tossing the girl underhand toward Zoro who quickly put his swords away to catch her, glaring at his captain. "I'll grab this one, and we'll drop them both off with Dalton and the others."

No one on the ground noticed that high in the sky a vulture circled. On its back was an otter, drawing on a small notepad furiously for a few moments before winging away over the ocean.

 **OOOOOOO**

Nefertiti Vivi woke up groggily, shaking her head slightly. "Where, where am I? Why can't I… My eyes!"

"Calm down Vivi," said Luffy from beside her, laying a gentle hand on her shoulder. "Chopper?"

"Your eyes will be fine. It's just a side effect of the cure for the poison you had in your system. It will leave your system soon."

Vivi calmed down quickly, blushing at Luffy's touch on her shoulder which had now moved to ruffle her hair. "Thank you, doctor"

"Baka!" Chopper, who she had yet to actually see, muttered, sounding extremely happy to her ears. "Calling me a doctor like that. It won't make me happy, baka!"

"And that's three for three," Luffy joked, pushing Chopper lightly as he stood up. "For now, take it easy, Vivi. You'll be right as rain soon. Until then, Nami wants to talk to you."

Nami quickly took Luffy's place by Vivi's bed, taking the other girl's hand in hers and leaning her head against Vivi's as she began to talk. "Hey Vivi, how're you feeling, girl? Other than the whole blind thing, I mean."

As the two girls talked quietly, Luffy led Chopper out of the room to watch Zoro and Sanji carrying in some of the treasure the chef had taken from Wapol's ship. Their share of the loot would be going to paying Kureha for her aid with Vivi, and they wouldn't be enriching themselves off this any further than that despite Nami's protests to the contrary. "So can we transfer her to the ship?"

"Yes, you'll be able to transfer her easily enough, though you'll need to set up her bed so that she won't be able to toss and turn at night. Her injury will be severely sensitive for a time," Chopper said with a nod, looking at Luffy thoughtfully before looking down at his hooves, his voice a low mumble. "Are you, were you serious about…? That is…"

"What are you talking about, me setting her bed up? You're the doctor. You're going have to be the one to do that, aren't you?" Luffy asked with a smirk, patting Chopper on top of the head.

Chopper smiled pulling his hat down over his eyes, then turning away and going to look for Doctorine without another word.

 **End Chapter**

* * *

This chapter fought me every step of the way. I had to have a few of the events occur as they did in canon, at least the frame of them anyway, which I always find rather stifling on the tactical level. I also didn't want Raffy to be the center of the fighting this chapter.

Katherine is a made up name for Miss Goldenweek. The wiki does not list her real name. I made up the uncle thing too. It just made sense to me.

Yes, I made no mention about how the three prisoners were dealt with. I did this purposefully in an effort to cut down on the world building. Doing so leaves some loose ends, of course, but that matches the original.

I also did not go into the ending scene with Doctorine and Chopper's confrontation. That will occur in the next chapter. I hope everyone enjoyed the chapter and are looking forward to the next chapter!


	10. Chapter 10

No rubber in my soul and while I like the aquatransexual I would have given Ranma some actual romantic ability.

This story has been edited by Michael and Hiryo, so there should'nt be very many mistakes.

* * *

 **Chapter 10 Now That's How You Make an Entrance!**

Following after Chopper, Luffy walked past another doorway but paused when he heard his name being called from the other side of the half-open door. Entering the room, he found it was a dormitory which was now full of injured and asleep militiamen. He also saw Sanji, Mr. 3, Makino and Dalton.

Sanji was laying in one of the beds, staring at the ceiling as he thought about something, the smoke from his cigarette a steady stream heading up to the ceiling. In one of the other beds lay Mr. 3, still unconscious thanks to his injuries from Zoro. The swordsman himself was sleeping against the wall when his captain came in, but stood up and moved toward him when Dalton called out for Luffy.

Despite the wounds he had taken Dalton was standing, if on rather wobbly legs, as Luffy entered the room. He was looking markedly better than he had after the battle against Wapol and his followers. He was still swathed in bandages, of course, but the fact that Dalton was moving at all said something about the large man's constitution.

"You sure you should be moving?" Luffy asked anyway.

Dalton waved that off, chuckling quietly as he kept his voice low having no wish to wake up his fellows. "This isn't the first time I've been this badly injured. I heal quite quickly, which I think is part of being a Zoan type. But I wanted to ask you something. You told us your name was Monkey D. Luffy?"

Luffy nodded, one hand moving to push up the front of his straw hat. "Yep that's me, why? Have you seen my wanted poster since we arrived or something?"

"Nothing like that, no it just took me some time before I remembered where I had heard the name before. There was someone looking for you about…I want to say two weeks or so ago," Dalton said as Zoro joined them. "A tall man with freckles, an easy smile, and the same kind of black hair you have. He wore an orange hat as well, and he had the mark of the Whitebeard pirates on his back in the form of a large tattoo. He was also most definitely a character. He fell asleep during a meal so deeply we thought he had died!"

Nearby Makino heard that and perked up noticeably, hobbling over to lean on Luffy, who put an arm around her shoulders, a grin blossoming on his face as Dalton went on. "He asked us to tell you that he's going to be in Alabasta for a time, and he'd like to meet up with you, though how he knew you would come here I don't know."

"He's probably been telling people on every island he visits and not just this one," Luffy said, his grin widening to the point of near-impossibility. "So, Ace is in Alabasta? I bet he's keeping a low profile, or I doubt that Crocodile'd be in any great rush to start his whole war of conquest thing. Ace hates WG dogs just as much as I do."

Makino cut in, her voice a drone almost as if this was an old argument. "With the exception of Jinbei."

"With the exception of Jinbei," Luffy replied with a roll of his eyes.

Zoro exchanged a glance with Luffy, then spoke bluntly "You know this guy, Ace, you said his name was?"

"Yep, he's my brother."

"You mentioned you had a brother before this, but you hadn't mentioned his name," Zoro murmured, shaking his head. "Why is that?"

"I want to make my own way in the world. I don't want to hang on the coattails of my brothers," Luffy replied simply.

"Coattails of your brothers… A man named Ace, who had the mark of the Whitebeard pirates…" Zoro slowly trailed off, and his face developed a look of shock that was almost comical. "You mean to say your brother is Fire Fist Ace!" After a moment he quickly got control of himself, laughing under his breath. "Damn, what a crew I've joined! Wait, does the cook know about this?"

Luffy thought for a moment then shook his head. "I don't think so, unless Makino or Nami told him."

"Excellent, if it ever comes up, let me get a camera first. I want a picture of that moment. His face should be hilarious!"

Luffy shrugged. "Sure, I guess. But for now, let's go grab our new crewmate and set sail. Since Nami said our Log Pose has already reset, I'd like to be out of here before it gets dark."

Before Zoro could question him on the new crewmate thing Luffy turned, tossing a musket ball from his ki pocket at Sanji who caught it without looking before staring over at Luffy. Seeing his captain gesture towards the door, the cook quickly joined them despite still looking a little singed around the edges from the fight against Wapol and his ministers.

"Where is that duplicitous woman?" Zoro asked looking around.

"If you mean Robin, she went with that young girl who was Mr. 3's partner before we came up here. She wanted to talk to the girl for a bit," Luffy said with a shrug.

"We will take care of her and that one, don't worry. I will look after the girl myself," Dalton interjected. "Though where those two came from or why they attacked I don't know."

"Don't worry about it. And it's good to know she'll be looked after. I got the impression that the girl was just sort of led into crime by bad company," Zoro said, scratching at his face, looking almost embarrassed as he remembered the threat Robin had issued when Zoro appeared on the scene. "Robin seemed a little protective of her."

"Meh, they were sort of coworkers so I'd say it makes sense and she sure as hell didn't seem dangerous to me," Luffy said with a shrug, not realizing how dangerous Miss Goldenweek could be with her Colors Traps if given the time to use them. If he had he might have tried to recruit her.

"Makino, could you take Zoro and head down now to pick up Robin and see what you can add to our supplies from the locals? I figure they like us now so we might as well get what we can." Makino nodded, and Luffy went on. "Sanji, you and I will pick up our new crewmate and gather up the girls."

Sanji cocked an eyebrow at that but already having an idea of who Luffy meant, nodded. Or it could have been the idea of going to meet with Vivi and Nami. Whatever the reason he followed Luffy out into the castle's corridors without further ado.

By the time that Luffy and Sanji caught up with Chopper, he was already talking with, or rather being shouted at by Doctor Kureha. "You think you can just go!? You're no doctor yet. You've got years to go before you have enough knowledge to call yourself a doctor!"

"But, but they really seem to want me, and, and if I don't leave the island, how can I achieve my dream to find all of the cures in the world! I can't do that just sitting here!" Chopper said, even as he hid behind one of the chairs in the room. At least, that was what Chopper thought he was doing. But he had gotten it wrong, only hiding a bit of his body while the rest stuck out from behind the chair.

"Why, you…!" Kureha shouted, followed by the sounds of splintered wood and small hoofs running on stone.

Luffy rolled his eyes, gesturing at the door which separated them from the argument. "Sanji, would you like to do the honors?"

A kick from the cook shattered the door, hurling it off its hinges and as the door fell Luffy stepped forward. Before either of the inhabitants of the room could move the straw-hat wearing pirate tossed a heavy sack which he had pulled out of his ki space towards the woman.

She caught it deftly, hefting it in one hand thoughtfully while Luffy spoke. "That's the gold for looking after Vivi. I also added a bit for looking after Sanji and the rest of my crew's injuries after that fight. But what's this I hear about you trying to convince my new crewmate to stay here?"

"Baka!" shouted Chopper, dancing in place. "It doesn't make me happy to hear you already calling me that!"

Seeing the little creature dance Sanji grinned around his cigarette. Luffy however didn't turn away from his stare-down with the old woman.

But Kureha just scoffed, glaring right back at him unafraid. "This little boy doesn't have enough knowledge to be a real ship's doctor yet! Come back in a few years and then he'll be ready."

"I think his skill is more than enough right now, and I've already offered him the job," Luffy said stepping forward, his arms crossed as he glared at Kureha, a small, challenging smirk on his face.

To one side Chopper was looking between them and decided to speak up once more. "I want to go with them!" he shouted again. "They are real pirates, and, and they accept me, they don't see me as a monster, they want to take me with them on adventures!"

"It **is** quite wise of our Captain to stock up on emergency food, I'd hate to see that effort go to waste." Sanji said, smoking his cigarette and flicking the ash away.

"EEE!" Chopper screamed, but the scream became a roar as he transformed into his near-human form. Rounding on Sanji quickly he reaching out to grab him in his large hands. "I am not food!"

"GAHHH!" Sanji shouted, leaping away. But he wasn't quite fast enough, and the two of them tumbled to the floor.

Luffy rolled his eyes but didn't turn away from Kureha, cocking his head to one side. "Isn't it every young boy's dream to run off to sea anyway? I don't see how you can think to stop him, granny!"

"GAH, you damn brat! If you want to take Chopper, you'll have to take him by force!" Kureha shouted. Though whether it was Luffy's continued use of that insult or the idea of Chopper leaving which enraged her more no one could say. Charging forward, Kureha pulled out an axe and several knives from somewhere.

Seeing this Luffy blinked, wondering where she had learned the hidden weapons space technique, but he had to set that mystery aside in order to dodge Kureha's knives as she hurled them at him. "If that's the way it's got to be!" he shouted, leaping forward and under one knife, kicking out at the woman's axe then spinning into a second kick which she dodged by the skin of her teeth. "Chopper, Sanji! Get out of here, grab Vivi and Nami and head back to the ship! I'll hold her off!"

Chopper took one last look at the furious expression on Doctorine's face, then turned and bolted with Sanji on his heels.

The two of them continued to spar around the room for a while, then Luffy looked out of the window and spotted Chopper leading the crew off on the sled down the rope line that led down into the different villages elsewhere on Drum Island. "He's off now," he said stepping back, sending another infuriating smirk at the old woman. "Really granny, aren't you a little old to go all tsundere on him?"

"Bah, you don't know anything, brat," Kureha muttered, though she too stepped back, letting the heavy battle axe fall to the floor where it's edge gouged the stone like it was wood. "If he's going to be a pirate, he needs to leave port like one. But that doesn't mean I'm not going to give him a proper send-off…" She looked at Luffy speculatively. "How strong are you?"

Luffy shrugged his shoulders. "I could probably lift my crew's schooner if I tried. Why?"

"Come with me then. Like I said, I want to give him a right, proper send-off," Kureha replied before heading out the door.

 **OOOOOOO**

"As I said already, it wasn't your fault!" Vivi said, grasping at Nami's hands, squeezing them a little harder now hoping to get her words across better the second time around. "I'm **not** a little girl that you have to protect. I spent two years as a Baroque Works agent. I rarely slept and did things that I really don't want to think about any longer in order to retain my cover and do what I had to in order to save my country. I have been in combat before and been wounded many times. My getting poisoned was the fault of the poisoner and my own lack of speed, not your leaving me alone for a moment."

Nami sighed, but nodded her head, tapping the back of Vivi's hands against her forehead for a moment, the movement a faint swishing noise to Vivi's senses. Vivi couldn't see at present, but she trusted this doctor named Chopper when he said that her sight would come back. Or rather, she trusted Luffy's word that everything would be all right. Why she trusted someone she had only met a bare few weeks ago to that extent was something she didn't want to look at too closely yet, but she did trust him.

"I understand," Nami said thoughtfully. "I mean, I'd hate it if someone treated me like I couldn't look after myself. Not that I'd ever go looking to start a fight or anything, but still. It's just, you're my friend and I don't have all that many of those. I'm always going to worry about you when we're in a fight, you know?"

"That's fine so long as worrying about me doesn't get you hurt," Vivi said rather tartly.

"Understood," Nami said with a chuckle. She shook her head, her hair swooshing against Vivi's hands as Nami held them up so that she could feel that. She shivered a little at the sensation, but stopped as Nami went on thoughtfully. "I guess I'm still getting used to this whole being a real part of a crew thing. Maybe I should start thinking about how to fight as part of a group? Luffy's training makes us a lot stronger on an individual level, but he hasn't been training us to work together."

"Good point," Vivi said, nodding her head before gently pulling away, her hands moving to touch her eyes. "Did the doctor give an estimate of when my eyesight would come back?"

"Not that I…" Nami broke off as shouts and the clang of steel on stone reverberated through the castle from directly above them. "What the heck is going on?" she growled, standing up quickly from her place by the bed.

Before she could reach the door Chopper burst into the room in his monster form, which Nami idly noticed looked different than the version he'd used in the fight against Wapol. Despite his large size he sounded almost panicky as he gabbled, "We've got to go! Doctorine's gone mad, and she doesn't want me to leave with you all, and your captains holding her off, but I don't know for how long! She's really, really tough! Especially since he keeps calling her granny or old woman! **Why does he keep doing that!**?!"

Sanji appeared from behind Chopper's bulk, then twirled around him, going down to one knee next to the bed and taking Vivi's hands in his. "Oh gracious, most beautiful princess, your knight is here to see you conveyed back to our humble ship! I am so sorry that I wasn't there to defend you against the foul varlet who poisoned you. If I had but known what he looked like I would have most definitely shown him that that was no way to treat a lady!"

Vivi giggled, shaking her head at the cook's attitude, as Nami answered Chopper's question, patting the large creature on the shoulder companionably. "As you spend time with our crew you'll learn that our captain is precisely the sort of person who would go up to a sleeping bear and poke it in the eyeball just to see if he could get away with it."

"The problem," Nami went on with a roll of her eyes while Sanji nodded fervently in agreement, "is that he's good enough to actually survive the experience. I don't think he'll stop doing that until he runs into something that can really hurt him."

"Not even then," Makino said with a laugh, entering with Zoro and Robin in time to hear Nami's words. "He did the same thing to his grandfather and laughed as the older man tried to take it out of his hide, and Garp certainly was strong enough to beat him."

"He did mention that the dream of becoming the Pirate King isn't for the sane," Robin muttered, shaking her head while above them the sound of battle continued, interspersed with numerous taunts from both combatants. "But for now I think we need to get out of here."

Vivi shrugged her shoulders, not quite understanding what was going on, but Makino promised to explain later, so Vivi did not protest as Sanji gently lifted her out of the bed, cradling her to his chest as he moved towards the door. She flushed a little at being in this position, not exactly used to being carried around like this despite some hazy memories of Luffy carrying her in a similar manner. Though strangely she did trust Sanji not to let his hands wander where they shouldn't. "Chopper," she said hesitantly, "your voice sounds deeper. Do you have a cold?"

"Oh!" Chopper said with a laugh, and suddenly Vivi could easily picture a young boy standing there, whatever his medical knowledge. "I'm not sick, I'm just in my transformation form."

"A devil fruit!" Vivi asked in astonishment. "Really? That's fascinating!"

Moments later they were all piling into a sled of some kind according to Nami, and Chopper for some reason was hooking himself up to the front of it. "Isn't that a little cruel?" Vivi asked coldly. "Surely we can all get down on foot."

Nami chuckled wanly. "We're actually at the top of a gigantic freaking mountain. I believe it's four and a half miles high and composed of sheer rock faces. This is the only way down, and I think Chopper's used to it, right?"

"Yep!" Chopper said with it a thumbs up towards Nami before he transformed again into his regular reindeer form. "Don't worry," he went on, his voice now coming out slightly distorted due to the changes to his jaw. "I do this all the time for the doctor. After all, I'm a reindeer!"

"Wait, what?" Vivi asked, then the sled began moving and she whooped as she felt her body suddenly flying a little in the air as the sled slid down the rope.

A few moments later she heard the sound of the sea and Carue quacking loudly nearby. She raised a hand in the direction of the noise and felt his head move under her hand gently while Chopper told the duck what was wrong with her.

He then paused to listen to Carue's quacking before smiling. "He says not to worry. He'll be your eyes as long as you need him to be. "

"Wait, you can understand him?" Nami asked, looking at Chopper in astonishment.

"Yep," Chopper said with a nod. "I haven't met an animal I can't understand yet, though how that works I don't know."

"That's awesome!" said Vivi and Nami as one, before looking at one another and giggling as Chopper danced at the praise.

Robin rolled her eyes moving past the two younger women, turning her gaze skyward as Luffy hopped into view descending rapidly to land on the ship's main deck. Just as he touched down there was the sounds of cannons in the distance, and the sky above the drums of Drum Island turned pink. "What, may I ask is that Straw-Hat-san?"

Rolling his eyes at Robin's chosen form of address Luffy looked around at the astonished, smiling faces of his crew sans Zoro. The swordsman had just pushed Banchi up over the side of the ship, which crunched under the turtle's weight as it scrambled for purchase until Luffy moved over to help pull the turtle aboard.

"Kureha wanted to give Chopper a last minute present," he said over his shoulder, while nearby Chopper began to cry softly, waving his hands in the air towards the mountain.

Turning away from Banchi and the view, Luffy began to bark out orders. "Nami, you have the wheel. Sanji, you're on the sails. Zoro head below, and make sure our supplies are stowed. Robin, if you could take the lookout position, I'll be forward with the sounding rope. Makino, Chopper, if you could get Vivi to set up next to the mainmast, that'd be great. Let's set sail!"

"Aye-aye!" his crew shouted eagerly save for Robin and Chopper, who was still crying. Robin was just not the shouty sort.

The crew began to move about quickly, just as eager to get on their way as Luffy was. Winter islands were fun to visit, but you didn't really want to stay there for any amount of time if you could help it, and most of their winter gear had been shredded in the fight.

A few moments later they left Drum Island behind them and Sanji looked up as Luffy called his name. Luffy whispered into his ears for bit and the chef smirked then nodded. Turning, he moved into the schooner's interior to the galley.

A few moments later, the rest of the crew looked up from what they were doing all around the deck, even Banchi as they smelled food. Sanji kicked the door from the kitchen open, and came out holding several heavily laden trays, setting them down on the bench that surrounded the mainmast where Vivi was already sitting. A moment later he came back out with more along with several steins of beer.

"What's all this for?" Nami asked in surprise, taking in the small feast.

"I think the fact that we have a new crewman calls for a celebration!" Luffy said, hopping down from where he had taken the tiller. "Heck, we could even say that we've added three since our entering the Grand line: diplomatic officer, intelligence officer, and now doctor," he said with a laugh, ruffling Vivi's hair as he winked at Robin, not noticing Vivi blushing hotly under his hand.

Robin chuckled, having seen the blush and wondering if the princess was developing a crush on the gallant pirate captain. _That would be a plot right out of a romance novel._ "I will say it again, I am only here for a short time. While I applaud the idea of a pirate crew having an intelligence officer, I'm not going to be able to fill the position for you in the long term."

"What does that matter?" Luffy said with another laugh, though his eyes were shrewd as he looked at her. "You fought your former compatriots back there. I'd say that makes you part of the crew for at least the short-term."

"I can't argue with that…" Robin said slowly, still rather worried about that, though at the time there had seemed to be little choice if she wanted to keep her options open. Luckily no one had actually seen her fighting her fellow BW agents, so her options did remain open. But there was no reason to alienate her captain by once again pointing that out.

It wouldn't occur to Robin until several months later that she had already referred to Luffy as **her** captain at that point…

At present Robin took the cup Luffy held out to her, raising it to her lips and sipping from it. she remained silent, watching the merriment around her as the crew celebrated.

Eventually Luffy turned to Chopper, pushing him forward to stand up on the seat that encircled the mainmast. "So, introduction time, Chopper. Tell the crew a bit about yourself!"

Put on the spot like that Chopper froze, until Nami patted him on the head and he saw the smiling faces all around them. Then he gathered his courage, and stepped forward boldly. "I'm Tony Tony Chopper! I am a reindeer who ate the Human-Human fruit, and I have been training to be a doctor for eight or nine years now! If you have any trouble with wounds or injuries, come to me!"

He suddenly whirled, pointing a finger at Zoro. "Especially you! I can tell by the way you're moving that you did something to your tendons and ligaments recently, and I have no doubt you're going to feel it in the morning. I'll have some medicine prepared for you, but until then no further exercise."

The crew cheered, except for Zoro, who grumbled a little at being ordered about like that, and Nami shouted, "Three cheers for our new doctor!"

 **OOOOOOO**

"HAHAHAHAH! We've done it! We've finally escaped from the Calm Belt!" Buggy the clown shouted, before nearly sobbing, covering his face with his forearm. "So many monsters, so many times we were nearly eaten!"

He turned, shouting out at his crew, his face now a mask of fear-induced rage. "If anyone flashily mentions eating fish ever again, it better be flashily burned to a flashy crisp, or else I'm going to feed them to the next monster we see! I'd rather eat seaweed then more fish at this point! Or maybe commit to cannibalism. Now flashily break out the Log Pose!"

As the crew leaped to obey he laughed again, though he seemed to be calming down from his emotional roller coaster now. "We're in the Grand Line now boys! Hopefully we're near enough to the Red Line for our Pose to catch. If not, were going to be sailing flashily for a time until we enter an island's weather zone!"

Half the crew, the half that had been with Buggy before they ran into the bounty hunters who had captured them, laughed at their captain's words before leaping to obey him. The other half looked a little more worried, and Usopp shuddered a little before muttering under his breath, "Thank God I am so skinny. I'd make terrible eating."

Next to him, Alvida nodded. "And I'm too pretty to eat. At least we don't have to worry about that, hmm?" The two of them looked at one another then sighed as Buggy continued to shout orders to the crew. For something that felt like the tenth or eleventh time since meeting one another the two of them had the same thought, which was: 'What have we gotten ourselves into here?'

 **OOOOOOO**

The next morning Chopper woke up in his new bed to the sound of crashing overhead. Though calling it a bed was kind of a misnomer, considering it was simply three thin mattresses piled up on one another, much like everyone else's beds. "What was that!?" the small doctor shouted, racing out into the small hallway then towards the stairs up to the day cabin.

There he found Vivi and a few of the others sitting around eating something. Looking around, he noticed quickly that the first mate and the captain were both missing. Nami was also banging her head on the table in front of her growling. "God dammit! I keep telling those idiots to wait until one of us is out there to take the tiller!"

She got up quickly, her hands balled into fists as she stalked out the door, with Chopper quickly leaping out of the way, staring after her. _Nami can be scary!_

"Hello, Chopper," Makino said, her soft voice putting Chopper at ease after having seen Nami's scary face. The woman sort of reminded him of Doctorine somehow, though she sounded a lot nicer most of the time then Doctorine ever had. "How are you doing this morning?"

"I'm fine," Chopper said, moving over to where Vivi was sitting up in her makeshift bed to one side of the room, with Robin sipping tea and reading a book next to her. There were also two arms jutting out from Vivi's chest currently feeding her, a sight that would have sent Chopper screaming before yesterday. But he had seen Robin's power in action, mostly helping with the wounded, and then twice during the celebration the crew had thrown last night.

A wide grin came to Chopper's face as he remembered the party and the fact it had been thrown in his honor! "How are you feeling, Vivi?" he asked happily, hopping up onto the bed while pulling out a medical device of some kind from the pink bag he carried on his back.

"I'm feeling fine. I'm even getting some flashes of light from my eyes. It seems as if my eyesight will be back later today as you said it would be," Vivi said admiringly. "How long after that should I wait until I'm able to move around and exercise?"

"It depends on what you mean by exercise. Your body will be fine for any kind of exercise in terms of endurance and strength, but you should wear sunglasses to protect from direct sunlight until tomorrow," Chopper said clinically, opening one of Vivi's eyes and looking at it thoughtfully for a moment through the device, before looking down at the original wound from the poison dart, touching it lightly with a paw. "And you shouldn't take any hits or anything like that. You'll bruise far too easily around the site where the dart hit you for a few more days."

"That cuts down on what kind of training I can do, I suppose," Vivi scowled. "But I can still exercise my legs and arms? With Alabasta our next stop I want to get in as much training under Luffy-san as possible."

"That should be fine," Chopper said, then blinked. "Wait, is Zoro exercising with the captain?"

"Yes, they start every day like this if they can," Robin said, then paused as the sound of a heavy blow reverberated through the roof of the day cabin.

This was followed shortly by a feminine bellow from outside so loud it made Chopper flinch where he stood in the day cabin. "If you idiots can't wait until someone's out here to relieve you, then you shouldn't be on duty in the first place!"

"Ahh, Nami-swan!" Sanji swooned. "So vibrant, so alive!"

"I believe you misspoke the word 'violent' there," Robin said dryly, chuckling at the cook's antics.

Makino agreed with her, laughing. Then she and Robin both blinked in surprise as Chopper hopped down from Vivi's bed and raced out the door. "What!? Zoro shouldn't even be moving around all that much today!"

Moments later, still rubbing at the lump Nami had given him, Luffy looked down at Chopper who was fussing over Zoro having just leg swept the swordsman to the ground. "Is it really that serious? I was going to try moving like that with Tekkai activated this evening. Being able to call on Busoshoku I don't have to worry about moving around like that and my normal durability is pretty damn high. But you can use Tekkai even when you're exhausted, which you can't do with Busoshoku."

" **NO!** Whatever Zoro did it pulled his tendons and even his joints something fierce. I'm surprised he's able to even move his arms and legs at all. You shouldn't even be thinking about it!" Chopper shouted, turning angrily and pointing a tiny finger towards Luffy. Then he whirled, transforming within a second and pushing Zoro back down onto the seat around the mainmast. "And if you try to move again before I'm done, I swear I will sit on you."

Zoro growled but obeyed, and Chopper finished his examination, frowning clinically. "Hmmm, he's healing a lot faster than he should be. I've never seen a human be able to heal so quickly… If he continues to at this rate, he should be fine to exercise tomorrow, that's honestly amazing."

"You'll have to get used to that," Luffy said with a laugh. "On this crew none of us are normal. Still, if Zoro can't train, he can take position up in the crow's nest for the day."

Realizing that was a sort of order Zoro nodded gruffly, irritated at the idea that he wouldn't be able to exercise further today but grateful that he'd be able to do something useful anyway. Before Chopper could stop him, he had quickly pulled himself to his feet and climbed up the ropes into the sails and from there up to the crow's nest.

Chopper staring after him angrily, but was brought back to earth as Luffy turned to him. "But I suppose that means I can devote today to training you."

"Training?" Chopper asked then nodded remembering something that Luffy had said during the party last night. "I suppose so, though I'd like to devote my evenings at least to continuing my reading. I stole several of Doctorine's books on my way out, and I want to read through them before we get to Alabasta so I can send them back to her." The crew had filled Chopper in on their current mission/job, and he was eager to help Vivi, who seemed really nice as well as being part of his new crew, however temporary it might turn out to be.

"That's called borrowing, not stealing," Luffy said, with a true pirate's grasp of ethics as Nami nodded agreement from her position at the tiller. "If you weren't trying to send them back that would be stealing."

Chopper nodded at that, and Luffy went on. "Let's spar for today. That'll give me a handle on where you are now, and I'll be able to figure out a training regimen for you while also pointing out the holes in your current style."

Chopper nodded once more then transformed into his monster form, standing with his hands clenched in front of himself.

"Ugh, okay first we're definitely going to start by teaching you some actual styles," Luffy said, groaning at how amateurish Chopper's stance was before charging forward, his hands flickering. Here, there, and everywhere, the attacks were nearly but not quite invisible to Chopper's senses, though from where she had taken over the tiller Nami could follow Luffy's movements, something which made her smile when she realized it.

Luffy pushed Chopper until the sun was high in the sky sparring with him continuously with only brief water breaks. At last Chopper's endurance gave out and he transformed back to his base form, gasping and shuddering in exhaustion. He noticed, however, that his new captain wasn't even sweating. Indeed, he looked as if he had just been out for a nice slow walk.

Adding to Chopper's dismay, Sanji had come out at some point. He had then begun to talk with Luffy even while Luffy continued to spar with Chopper. That would have irritated Chopper immensely if he wasn't getting his rear kicked so easily.

"I think we're done for the day, Chopper," Luffy said finally, stepping back. "I definitely have a handle on what I want you to work on and the styles I'm going to teach you. Sanji here is going to help you with some of it," he said, gesturing over to the cook. "But I think some leg and strength exercises with Zoro will also be in the cards for you. You're definitely a power fighter, with that kind of body you just won't be able to really use any kind of agility or speed-based style without a lot of work. On that topic, those other forms you used yesterday: that whole fluffy body thing and the speed body. Why didn't you use that against me?"

Between gasps Chopper answered, reaching up gratefully for a drink the cook handed to him. "That's, hah, my, hah, rumble ball! I, hah, created it when I was looking into steroids and how they could affect Zoan types like me. It allows me to achieve three different transformations for six minutes. But I can only use it once every six hours."

"Interesting," Luffy mused. "How much of that is training your body and how much of it is the actual steroids or vitamins and what have you? I don't like the idea of steroids, but if we can train your body to do that without the Rumble Ball…"

"I, I don't know. I think it's the just medicine," Chopper said, shaking his head before he laughed, his eyes, though tired, lighting up eagerly. "Then again, I've never even heard of haki before, let alone those Rokushiki techniques, so who knows?"

"What happens if you take it twice in six hours?" Sanji asked, cocking his one visible eyebrow.

Chopper idly wondered what the heck was up with the cook's eyebrows, and what he was hiding behind the hair covering his eye. He shook his head to clear it of such thoughts before answering. "Well, if I take a second Rumble ball within six hours I lose control of my transformations. They become random whenever I try to change from one point to another."

As he went on Chopper looked away, ashamed. "And according to Doctorine if I take it a third time I apparently transform into an uncontrollable monster which attacks everyone nearby. I don't remember what happens during that state, but that's what she said. It also really hurts my body: that state put so much of a strain on me I wasn't able to move for days after."

Above Chopper, Luffy and Sanji exchanged a glance at that then nodded as one. "We will have to look into that at some point, maybe when we stop at an uninhabited island or something. An ace in the hole isn't a real ace unless you can control it," Luffy said sternly, before smiling and reaching down to pat the little fellow on the top of his large purple top hat. "Still, it's definitely interesting."

"O, okay," Chopper replied with a smile.

"Is it my turn now?" Sanji asked, looking at his captain.

"I get the impression you want to train something specific?" Luffy asked, helping Chopper to his feet and over to the bench, while behind him Makino, Robin, and Vivi came out of the day cabin. Robin and Vivi were dressed in bathing suits, and with robin leading the princess moved to the stern deck, laying out on a few of the lounge chairs there. Makino took the tiller from Nami, who raced inside for her own bikini.

After recovering from his flirtatious state Sanji turned back to his captain, nodding as if nothing had happened while his one visible eye turned back to normal from the heart shape it had assumed. "It took me way too long to close with those idiots the other day. None of them, even the king, would've been a real threat if I could've gotten and stayed in close. So I think I need practice in dodging and closing."

"That's a little hard to train on board the ship," Luffy said thoughtfully, "but we can work on it a bit I think. But isn't it time for lunch?"

By the time Sanji finished cooking and brought out the food, Luffy had prepared for Sanji. After they all ate, Chopper joined the rest of the crew minus Sanji and Vivi in clustering around the aft deck, with Makino having taken the tiller. Even Zoro had come down from the crow's nest, and dozens of hands had shown up all around them clutching what looked like handfuls of musket balls.

"I am going to enjoy this." Zoro muttered, tossing a few musket balls in the air and catching them.

"Shitty marimo…" Sanji growled, but muttered to himself, "This is for training, training. Get back at the stupid national treasure later…"

"This is crazy," Chopper said almost conversationally. After his own training he'd somewhat come to understand that Luffy's training and the word crazy went together, but he still felt the need to point it out in this case. "You know that, right?"

"It's only crazy if it doesn't work," Zoro said firmly with Luffy nodding in agreement.

"No, it's still crazy!" said all four of the girls as one, even Robin agreeing with that point. Not that she made her hands disappear as she did though. After the other girls got over their giggles at their moment of synchronicity, Robin asked, "Shall we begin?"

Hours later when Sanji was carted off gasping and bruised from head to toe by Chopper, Nami poked Luffy in the shoulder. "Can we get my trees up out of the hold? They're starting to wilt down there because of not having enough direct sunlight."

"We've got the supplies so sure. Have you decided where you want them to go?" Luffy asked.

Nami nodded, gesturing all around the aft deck by the railing. "Can you set up some kind of planter there?"

Luffy looked at the banisters, then calculated the amount of wood it would take to transform that railing into a thin wall, and what else he'd need to do and nodded. "I can set up a simple long planter there. We'll have to set up the outer wall first."

The two of them worked on that for a time, hammering boards into place along the banisters so that instead of a railing it was now a thin wall. Then Luffy put in two much shorter walls at a ninety degree angle from the edge of the former railing. Once that was done, they put in a another shorter wall on the inside of the planter. This now made a U-shape all around the aft deck, deep enough for one tree all along it's length.

As the work neared completion Nami winced, watching Luffy use his palm to hammer in nails once more. "That makes me cringe every time you do it!"

"Everything can be training, Nami," Luffy said with a laugh, standing up and surveying their work with a smile. "That's one point me and Ji-Kure agree on."

"Speaking of training, I've decided I need some new weapons. Those tonfas that you made are okay, but I think I've spent too much time training with a staff to really trade weapons, and I like the extended range a staff can give me."

"I could make you a collapsible staff again, sure," Luffy said thoughtfully. "Though we should be on the lookout for some way to make your staff more versatile. Once you start to learn Busoshoku and can add that to the staff, you'll increase your hitting power immeasurably, so versatility will be the thing."

"And how far into the future is that exactly?" Nami asked sharply.

"For you…" Luffy sighed, "that's going to take a long time for you, sorry Nami. Your original style just doesn't lend itself to Busoshoku, or even any of the techniques that can lead up to it. In fact, that's true for most of the crew. The only one of you I see getting a handle on that in the next few months is Zoro, and I doubt he's going to be able to imbue his swords with it for an even longer time. That aspect is a lot harder than actually learning Busoshoku in the first place, or at least it was for me. Maybe it'll be different for a dedicated swordsman."

Nami nodded. "So, in the meantime…"

"In the meantime I'll make you a few collapsible staffs so you can have extras if they break. But we should definitely keep on making sure that you can dodge as well as you can. Both you and Vivi, and even Robin in a way can benefit from that. I'd love to see you all start showing signs of Observation haki, though I want to get Robin started on learning Busoshoku quickly."

Frowning, Nami opened the door into the room where they had kept the barrels of soil and her tangerine trees stuck in their little planters. "Are you sure that's a good idea?" she whispered, looking around for a moment to make sure they weren't being overheard. "Robin's always saying how she's not going to hang around, and she's not really even part of the crew, despite what you said yesterday. I didn't want to spoil the party last night, but I don't really trust her even after she's fought for us."

"I can understand why you're worried, but I'm not," Luffy replied with a smirk. "Remember what I said when I told you why I wanted her to join us? Her eyes, they tell me a lot about the life Robin's lived."

Leaning down, Luffy lifted three of the trees in his hands, pushing them together hard enough to keep the middle one from slipping out while Nami struggled to lift one before following him out the door. For just a moment Nami let her eyes trail down Luffy's back, staring at his powerful back and his ass appreciatively before looking away, muttering, "That doesn't mean she's trustworthy."

"No it doesn't. But something is telling me that I can trust her, at least as long as she thinks that keeping her options open will help her to achieve her dream. whatever it is."

"And you're so certain she has one? A **dream** , I mean?" Nami asked skeptically, giving the word dream an emphasis that only their fellow crewmen would have truly understood.

"Oh yeah. Robin's got that look in her eye sometimes, that look that tells me she's dedicated to something. And it sure as hell isn't Crocodile, or else she wouldn't be with us at all. Remember she's using Croc as much as he is using her, and Robin wants him weakened. She said so when we first met."

For the next few moments the two of them worked together in silence planting the trees in the planter. Soon they finished, and Nami stretched, cracking her neck and back explosively, thrusting out her chest almost subconsciously. Luffy looked away with a blush on his face and Nami smiled seeing it before looking at her beloved trees.

Here and there were a few dead leaves and one or two branches that would have to be cut off, the trees having suffered without enough direct sunlight since they had entered the Grand Line. "I still have some work here. How long will it take you to have my staff ready for me? I'd like to start training with it and Vivi as quickly as I can."

"I can get that done easy," Luffy said with a nod, reaching out for a tangerine. "Right now, these look tasty…"

Nami slapped his hand away. "Don't touch those! They're not ripe yet, and even if they are these're my trees! Ask first."

Luffy stared at her blankly, then, as Nami to make turn away spanked her on the ass. He jumped away with a laugh as she turned with a growl and a flush on her face. "That's for the poor attitude! I just helped you plant these trees and I want a single tangerine. Is that too much to ask?"

Still flushing, Nami frowned then nodded reluctantly reaching into the tangerine trees for one that was ripe. She then tossed it to Luffy, a sudden smirk appearing on her face. "That's the second time you've spanked my ass. Are you trying to tell me something?"

Luffy shrugged, catching the tangerine out of the air before peeling it with a single finger, popping a slice into his mouth. "Would you rather I tickle you into submission?"

Nami paused at that then shook her head. Luffy had found out early on that she hated being tickled and reacted almost like a madwoman whenever anyone tried. "Okay, I see your point."

Lying out on a lounge chair nearby Robin continued to read her book throughout this activity yet watched the two of them closely over the top of it at the same time. She couldn't tell if Luffy was flirting with Nami there or not, and after a moment's thought she decided that he wasn't. His entire body language wasn't like someone who was trying to flirt or get close physically to Nami. It was more like he was just having fun with her than anything else. _Odd, but interesting._

Robin felt his eyes stray toward her for a moment, and looked up over her book as Luffy looked away blushing at what she was wearing, which was a quite conservative one-piece bathing suit. Then he looked back at Nami who had turned away and was now bent over, examining one of her tangerine tress before blushing again and moving off quickly. _Hmm, so his type is conservative rather than outgoing? Or does he just prefer my skin tone?_ She chuckled a little before Chopper walked up to her, holding one of her fantasy novels, smiling in welcome at the little doctor and putting the captain out of her mind for a moment.

 **OOOOOOO**

Near the waters of Alabasta, within sight of the island in fact, two marine ships sat at anchor within bare feet of one another. Nearby several more ships, all galleons like the two anchored so close together, also waited, while several schooners moved around them. From the mainmasts of most of these ship flew the Marine flag, marked with the notation 5/3-1. That told everyone who understood such things that this flotilla, bar one of the ships anchored close together, was under the command of Black Cage Hina, the fifth flotilla of the third fleet stationed in the first half of the Grand Line.

Hina herself was a tall, pink-haired woman with long dancer's legs and a decent-sized chest, both of which her dark purple suit showed just enough of to bring attention to without overdoing it. She also wore sunglasses and bright red lipstick.

A thin cigarette finished the image, though Hina flicked that away as she came to attention, saluting the man and woman waiting for her on the galleon marked with the ensign denoting that it was from East Blue. "Permission to come aboard?"

"Permission granted, Captain Hina!" Tashigi said warmly, returning the salute before shaking the other woman's hand. "It's good to see you again."

"I'm happy to see you too. Hina pleased," Hina returned, smiling at the younger woman for a moment before turning to Smoker. "Smoker, you haven't changed a bit. The report said that you left your post to chase after this Straw Hat pirate crew. But after the fact that this pirate could use Busoshoku was brought to light, the higher ups agreed that you acted correctly. So despite flouting command like you normally do, you got away with it once again."

"Bah, as if I care about what those bastards in the high command think," Smoker groused. He shook his head, though his eyes had narrowed noticeably at the news that Luffy could use Busoshoku.

"Hina amused. There you go with that attitude of yours. You never change, do you Smoker." Hina said, then she turned away to stare at the island, her hands clenching and unclenching at her side for a moment. "But if these pirates are going to heap more trouble on the people of this troubled island, I will gladly help you apprehend them. Hina enraged!"

Smoker looked that way too, scowling. "I have to wonder what Straw Hat is doing here too, though I'd guess your anger comes from another source?"

"Hmmf! Obviously. I asked for permission to at least intercede diplomatically between Cobra-sama and the rebels, if not to deploy a force of marines to try to keep the peace, but I have been told time and time again that it is an internal matter, nothing to do with the marines. And then there is the presence of Crocodile… Hina worried."

The two officers exchanged looks at that. Though they went about their duties very differently and had different ways of dealing with their higher ups, Hina and Smoker were united in their distaste for the Shichibukai. Smoker hated the system, however, while Hina hated most of the pirates who were offered the position. Crocodile was one of the ones she was most concerned by, though she also had a personal loathing of Don Flamingo.

"Well, regardless, I think we need to plan this out a bit. You know these waters and this island better than we do Hina. Where do you think we should set up?" Smoker asked.

"I have a few ideas there, but first, whatever happened to that overlarge jutte of yours?" Hina asked quizzically, unused to seeing her old friend without his weapon. He had that weapon even longer than he'd had his Devil Fruit powers.

She watched as Tashigi quickly looked away, and Smoker seemed to turn into smoke without actually activating his power, drawing so hard on his cigars his face disappeared behind the smoke from it's end. "Was it something Hina said?"

 **OOOOOOO**

Over the next few days, the crew fell into a new routine dominated by everyone's daily training routines. In the morning, Luffy and Sanji would wake up before dawn to relieve whoever was on guard duty that night which was usually Robin and/or Chopper. Sanji's current routine was a lot less noisy then Luffy and Zoro's constant sparring, and Luffy could hurl things at Sanji and watch the tiller at the same time.

After Chopper had been shown how to use the tiller, he and Luffy had set up a stand right next to it so that the young reindeer could read while also working the tiller at need. Everyone on board by this point knew how to follow the Log Pose, which gave Nami time to start on her maps in earnest, something she was ecstatic about. On top of this, Chopper didn't need as much sleep as the rest of the crew.

As for Robin, she simply enjoyed staying up to ungodly hours. She liked to be in the crow's nest covered with a blanket, a mug of coffee in her hand as she read from the light of a small lamp.

Chopper and Robin got on surprisingly well, bonding first over fantasy novels of all things, a genre that Chopper was very interested in but hadn't had the opportunity to really get into thanks to Doctorine's grueling teaching program. For her part Robin encouraged this, and seemed to find the young Chopper a fun, or at least interesting, companion.

After they finished training Sanji would prepare breakfast while Luffy and Chopper would train for a bit. Or if he was too tired Luffy would train Nami, Makino, and Vivi, sometimes all at once.

Vivi's eyesight had come back two days out from Drum Island just as Chopper had predicted, though Chopper had her wearing sunglasses for a few days just to be safe. When Chopper saw Vivi trying to practice dodging like Sanji he screamed, transforming into his near-human form and smashed Luffy into the deck. Once that was done Chopper rounded on a startled Vivi and gave her a stern talking to about how easily her body would get bruised if she took a hit near where the poison dart had struck her.

This still let Vivi practice with her peacock slashers and her acrobatics however. To aid this, Luffy used the last remains of the original crew's bunks to set up an obstacle course on the gun deck for her to run through. Both Nami and Makino enjoyed that type of exercise too, making Luffy wonder if he should make that a permanent feature at some point.

After brunch Luffy would train with Zoro and Sanji, then just Zoro for a time until an early dinner, the two of them sparring as hard as they could without using special attacks or utterly destroying the ship. After they finished for the day, Sanji would bring out an early dinner. After that was the quiet time, with all of the crew either talking or otherwise on deck enjoying time together, or just sitting and reading as the case may be.

It was during one of these quiet evenings that the news about Ace looking for Luffy and maybe being in Alabasta came out. Nami simply nodded, while Robin looked somewhat intrigued behind her book wondering who he was, and Chopper and Vivi looked confused.

It was Sanji who gave their confusion voice, asking bluntly, "So who's this Ace guy, Luffy-chan?"

Luffy smiled, leaning up from where he, currently a she, was stretched out on Banchi's back, soaking in the sun. Sanji drooled a bit at the sight, unable yet again to remember that whatever 'she' currently looked like, Luffy was still a guy underneath.

For her part Luffy paused a moment before answering the question, shouting up at the crow's nest. "Oy, Zoro! It's time!"

While the rest of the crew watched in puzzlement, Zoro leaped down from the crow's nest and raced inside to grab a camera that Nami had bought back in Logue Town. Sanji would have questioned this, but at that moment Luffy stretched again, twisting around so that her back could get some sun. This accidentally allowed Sanji a chance to look down her shirt at her somewhat small but incredibly perky chest.

This robbed Sanji of all coherent thought for the two minutes it took Zoro to return. The first mate moved to one side with the camera ready as the rest of the crew watched on, wondering what was going on.

"Hmm, oh Ace, he's my brother," Luffy said, speaking as if the last few minutes hadn't occurred while smirking over at Sanji. "Me, Sabo and Ace lived together for years before and after I met Makino-nee. But then they set off to sea as soon as they hit sixteen, and I had to wait until I turned sixteen to follow them."

"O, Oh," Sanji muttered, looking away as his gentlemanly side finally overrode his hormonal side. "I see."

"Yep, Ace has been in the Grand Line for years. He's also apparently joined up with Whitebeard's crew too. I still wonder how that happened. I mean the last letter he sent he said he had, but he never explained why," Luffy mused.

"Wait… Ace…part of the Yonkou Whitebeard's crew…" Sanji puffed on his cigarette between each word, wondering why that sounded so familiar. Then he gasped, as did Vivi and Robin as they realized who Luffy was talking about.

But Sanji's reaction took the cake. His eyes almost bulged out of his head so much that the one normally hidden behind his hair was actually visible for a moment. His mouth dropped open letting his cigarette fall to the ground, and his hair seemed to suddenly stick out every which way.

Grinning evilly Zoro quickly snapped a picture.

Sanji didn't even notice the flash, too busy staring at Luffy in astonishment, 'her' body for once not registering. "Wait, do you mean Fire Fist Ace! The Great Rookie, commander of Whitebeard's second division?! **He's** your brother!?"

"Yeah, that's my big brother, all right. Though like his joining Whitebeard, I've no idea why he's called Fire Fist. I knew he was known as the Great Rookie, though."

"You are brother to Whitebeard's second division commander Portgas D. Ace and grandson to Monkey D. Garp, the greatest hero of the marines!" Sanji groaned, reaching down to pick up his cigarette with one hand while the other tried to get his hair back in order. "What the **fuck** is wrong with your family!?"

"We're just awesome like that!" Luffy said with a laugh.

"More like flat out crazy!" Sanji spat out before looking over to where Zoro had just given Nami her camera back. The orange-haired girl was now giggling at the picture, and normally the sheer sexiness of that sight would have sent Sanji into his flirtatious mode. But the fact Zoro was chuckling at whatever it was too kept his attention firmly fixed on the first mate. "Oy, shitty marimo, what's so funny huh?"

"Hahaha! I think we have a masterpiece here, Aho-cook," Zoro retorted, showing the rest of the crew and Sanji the picture he had taken. "We might even send it in to the newspaper see if they could use this for your bounty poster instead of that drawing!"

"Why, you shitty moss-head! Give that here, damn it! I can't let the ladies of the world see me in such a state. It would be a travesty!" Sanji shouted, leaping feet first towards Zoro, who dodged to one side.

The two of them quickly fell to fighting, and since Zoro had left his swords up in the crow's nest for a moment he was at a disadvantage. He was even stronger than Sanji though, so could block his kicks and did so a few times before Sanji went for a roundhouse kick, actually flipping himself onto his hands for a moment to bring both legs around in a whirlwind. Zoro deflected the first kick, then ducked, leaping forward and grabbing Sanji around the waist, slamming him backwards and down onto the deck.

Watching this curiously, Chopper shook his head. "Why do Zoro and Sanji not get along? I thought crewmates were supposed to all get along like in a herd."

Before anyone else could answer Robin spoke up from where she had once more retreated behind a book. As was normally the case this had not stopped her from watching what was going on and now she delivered a crushing blow with the most deadpan tone any of the crew had ever heard. "Don't worry about it Doctor-san, it is just a mating ritual used between human men. When two men like each other but don't want to admit it, they will sometimes go to extremes to show their dislike for one another. For those men with an overabundance of testosterone, this comes out in the form of constantly looking for reasons to fight one another."

Both boys currently trying to kill one another shuddered and leaped away from one another. "Gah, it's not like that and you know it woman! It's just Curly-brow irritates the hell out of me!" Zoro roared.

"Indeed, Robin-chan!" Sanji said, going to his knee next to Robin's chair. "I am shocked and appalled that such vile lies could pass such lovely lips!" He smirked suddenly, turning back to the swordsman. "Although, given his general disdain for the female form perhaps there is some basis in fact to that comment when directed the shitty marimo's way."

"Che, at least I'd know what to do with a woman, you natural blond! Have you ever even gotten past the kiss on the cheek stage with your over the top attitude!?" Zoro retorted.

"Have **you** ever even held the hands of a girl?" Sanji shot back. "Dressing your sword up in a dress doesn't count!"

As Robin leaned back with a faint smile on her face at the amount of chaos she had started, Luffy leaned down, whispering into her ear. "You are evil sometimes, you know that?"

"Pirate…" Robin drawled, waving a hand at herself with something suspiciously like a giggle escaping her, while Luffy fought to keep her eyes on Robin's face rather than falling to that hand and the attention it brought to Robin's chest.

The two boys shouted and raged at one another for a bit until they began talking about how to prove they were straight and began to eye up the girls. Sanji even looked at Luffy for a moment, but Luffy just held up a fist and asked sweetly, "Do you suddenly have a death wish, Sanji?"

He gulped audibly, and Luffy sighed, deciding to end this bit of amusement. "Anyway I think we need to talk about something more serious for a moment." Luffy waited until she had everyone's attention then smiled. "This ship has served us well, and I think we can all agree it's a great ship, right? So, I think it deserves an actual name."

Vivi blinked, looking around at the rest of the crew sans Chopper and Robin. "Wait, you mean you haven't named this ship!? Do you have any idea how much bad luck that is?"

"While I don't normally believe in luck, I think the princess has a point," Robin said, putting down her book for once and looking around her seriously. "There are numerous substantiated tales of ships without names running into small issues that normally would not have been problems and sinking, or simply disappearing at sea. You need to rectify this."

"I honestly didn't think it was that big a problem considering it was a marine ship before we stole it and they probably had named it," Luffy replied blithely. "But it's true we need to figure out a name for it."

"How about _Swift Sword_?" Zoro asked. "That's a good, strong name."

"No. The swift part's okay, but I think the name needs to just be a single word," Nami said, shaking her head. "I vote for _The Moneymaker_!"

"Gah, no. That makes the ship sound like we're bankers or money-launderers," Makino objected. " _The Dreamer_ , maybe?"

" _The Beautiful Maiden_!" Sanji said, dancing around the ladies. "For certain that tells everyone the most important thing aboard!"

"Only in your mind, Aho-cook! How About _Waveblade_!" Zoro supplied.

"Why do I think every name you think of is going to contain something about swords?" Luffy teased. "One track mind there, Zoro. I think our name needs to say something about our actions. Considering that we're going to be preying on other pirates, it needs to somehow allude to that, I think."

"Pot meet kettle, you're both black, and oh my, Luffy, you used a big word!" Nami teased, causing Luffy to pout at her while Nami rolled her eyes. "How about _Tycoon_? It says what we all want to be, right?"

"What **you** want to be, you mean," everyone else save Robin replied, but Vivi actually went on, frowning in thought. "Don't get too set on the one word name concept. There are many ships that have two or even three words in their names. I think that Makino-san was on to something with _Dreamer_. A ship's name needs to either evoke an image or connect to something near and dear to the crew's hearts."

"Huh…" Sanji thought for a moment, then shrugged, trying to put his own idea and Makino's together. " _Dreaming Maiden_ then?"

Luffy sighed, leaning back in one of the lounge chairs as the debate continued, muttering under her breath. "I was going to go with something like _Queen Anne's Revenge_ , but I doubt anyone would get the reference."

Nearby Robin twitched, almost turning to stare at Luffy for a moment as he said that name. _Where have I heard that before? It was a long time ago, I know that. But…_

The thought didn't remain in her mind, but there was something about that name that made Robin wonder for a moment before she turned to follow the ongoing debate. Eventually they all voted on the name _Resolve_ , deciding it was simple, easy, and underlined all of their goals as well as sounding strong. Makino and Chopper immediately got to work painting the name on the side of the ship, as the rest went back to what they had been doing.

On the sixth day out from Drum Island, their routine was interrupted about halfway through the day when a lone seagull was seen in the sky above. From where she was once more sunning herself Nami spotted the incoming bird and raised her hand languidly, waving to it from where she was sunbathing.

"You still have a subscription despite your complaints about it costing so much?" Luffy teased.

Nami huffed, but it was Robin who replied from where she was lying out in the next lounge chair over from Nami. "It's better to be informed of things, whatever the price of the newspaper. If nothing else, it tells you what the World Government wants you to know, and even the best censorship can sometimes allow real information to leak through."

"See?" Nami said smugly, looking over her glasses at Luffy while stretching her hands up over her head as the seagull came in to land, smirking as Luffy looked away. It never ceased to make her feel good when she could get Luffy to react like that.

The seagull landed between her and Robin, and Nami sighed. "How much?"

The seagull held up its wing, indicating three feathers as Chopper, who was sitting on the deck nearby working on creating some pills of some kind, translated.

"That I didn't need a translation for, Chopper. But thanks anyway," Nami said shaking her head with a sigh. "At least the price hasn't gone up again." As she began to flip through the newspaper however Nami paled.

From his position at the tiller Luffy noticed this and asked quickly, "What's wrong?"

"It's got some news from Alabasta…" She shot a look over to where Vivi was sleeping, having fallen asleep after literally collapsing into a lounge chair worn out from exercising with Luffy for several hours. "It's not good. Do you think… Do you think we should hide it from her?"

"No," Luffy said authoritatively, a tone entering his voice that Robin cataloged as the Captain Voice as he turned away, lashing the wheel down before moving over to tap Vivi on the shoulder. "Vivi?"

The blue haired girl woke up with a start but groaned as she saw Luffy hovering over her. "I'm not going back to exercising!" Vivi tried to roll over, but couldn't with Luffy's hand on her shoulder. "Go torture someone else, please!"

She then sat up abruptly, pointing down to the deck. "I know. Figure out some way to train Carue!"

From where he had been sitting and shooting the breeze with Banchi Carue heard this and squawked in indignant betrayal.

Luffy laughed quietly, shaking his head. "That might be an interesting idea if we had a ship large enough to make him run around on it without getting in anyone's way. But that's not why I woke you up. The newspaper has some information about what's going on in Alabasta. I figured you'd want to know, bad or good."

"Oh… yes, thank you, Luffy-san." Vivi nodded, and moved over to sit next to Nami, reading the paper over her shoulder before gasping one hand coming up to her mouth. Half of the Royal Army has gone over to the side of the rebels! But that's, that gives them parity! It almost guarantees that there will be more war!" She looked up at Luffy, her eyes showing anguish. "Can we get this ship to go any faster!?"

"Makino? Nami?" Luffy asked calmly, not looking away from Vivi's distraught eyes. He understood why Vivi was acting this way of course. Now that the two sides were almost even, open conflict between the royalists and the revolutionaries would rise exponentially. More people died in open warfare than guerrilla wars especially when the guerrillas were only after the government rather than the civilian population like in this one.

Makino shook her head quickly. "We tore nearly every spare canvas we received from the town we saved from the Hawkins Pirates heading to Drum Island, and they didn't have any to give us. We even offered to pay for it, but they just didn't have any. If we push things we'll lose sails, and we won't be able to replace them."

"Pirates paying for things," Nami growled, shaking her head, but subsided at Luffy's look. "Yes, I know I need to get better at that, but still…"

"There's a place for greed, and I don't mind you being greedy but we pay for what we need when we can. There's no point in doing otherwise, especially given how much money we already have in the hold," Luffy said before looking over at Vivi. "Sorry, but I'm not about to cripple this ship to save us, what, a day, a few hours? Do you have any idea how many days it takes a ship to get from Drum Island to Alabasta?"

Vivi slowly shook her head. "No, I don't, unfortunately." She sighed, looking away, her face almost crumpling in worry. "We have to stop this!"

"Then I think it's a good time to talk strategy," Luffy said, before turning to shout down to the main deck. "Sanji, Makino! Get out here! We're going to have a war council. Zoro, you too."

Zoro dropped down from above, landing with a thump at the same time Sanji came out from the day cabin, wiping his hands on a cloth he kept at his waist before moving up the small staircase with Makino to join the others. They all crowded around with Luffy leaning back against the post holding the wheel and Robin, Chopper, and Sanji sharing one lounge chair while Zoro took the other, along with the duck who had followed Chopper up. Surprisingly, even the giant turtle had moved over, sticking his head up over the banister separating the raised stern deck from the main deck.

"Considering that I am still not part of this crew, I do not think I should take part in this," Robin said, moving to get up and leave.

Luffy, however, just rolled his eyes, gesturing her back into her chair. "As if that would stop you from listening in."

"True. Would it help if I gave you my word that I would not?" Robin asked smiling, though there was something almost fake about it to Luffy's eyes.

Luffy looked at her closely, then nodded. "Yes, it would. Would you give it?"

Robin paused, her smile disappearing as she looked at Luffy from behind her sunglasses, then slowly shook her head. "No. As I've said all along, I need to keep my options open. If I can report back to Crocodile with some knowledge of your plans, that might help soothe any feelings he might have about my being incommunicado for so long. I have said time and time again that while my objectives are not Crocodile's, I do require aid to reach my own objective. Using you to distract or otherwise weaken his position is one thing, going against him entirely and no longer having that aid is quite another. Unless you would be willing to offer your support?"

That was the first time Robin had even admitted that she would be open to such a thing, but Luffy knew not to call her on it. Instead he answered calmly with a simple shrug. "I'd be willing to, but I have no idea what aid you could want." With that said, Luffy turned away, looking over at Vivi once more. "So we won't make any direct plans right now. Instead we will talk about the opposition and an overall objective, okay?"

Even as Luffy spoke Robin was still staring at him, a faint smile on her face as she leaned back, watching the captain of the ship in action. _Once again he is showing he has hidden depths._ She tried not to think too closely about the amount of trust Luffy was giving her, or how close he had come there to saying yes to her rhetorical question.

Even if they weren't going to make any specific plans, just knowing Vivi's objectives and what Vivi knew would help Robin if she will went back to Crocodile. And, Robin realized, Luffy knew it too. He just expected her not too.

He trusted her, even after a bare few weeks, even after all of the times she had spent keeping her distance from the crew. _Which I have to admit has not been as easy as I had hoped. Nami is a delight to trade barbs with, Sanji's antics never cease to amuse, Luffy and Makino are both excellent conversationalists, and Chopper is simply fun to be around._ She discounted Zoro since the swordsman, strangely enough, was more openly suspicious of her then Nami, though plainly willing to follow his captain's recommendations.

Vivi however did not share Luffy's willingness to trust Robin, and looked at her closely for a moment before sighing and deciding to go along with the captain on this. After all, her objectives were rather obvious, and Robin already knew all the people that they were going to face.

She opened her mouth, but Luffy held up a hand. "Information on the numbered agents first, I think, and then what you want to do once we get there."

Vivi nodded, and outlined all she knew about the numbered agents.

After she described the most dangerous one on her list, Mr. 1, Zoro leaned forward, interest plain. "A sword man?" he asked closely.

Vivi nodded. "I'm not certain why the rumors call him that. I've never seen him in person, let alone watched him fight," she cautioned. "He's just known as a sword man. He doesn't use weapons, but all of his victims have been sliced as if by swords."

"A Devil Fruit of some kind possibly," Luffy said, flicking his eyes over to Robin who had leaned back and begun to read a book again, not taking part in the conversation, but also not leaving as she had said she should. He smirked at that, and watched Robin twitch, somehow having spotted his expression before he turned back to the conversation. "If you want to take a step towards cutting steel I suppose that's your opponent then, Zoro."

Zoro nodded eagerly, his hands gripping the hilts of the swords at his side, one after another. " **Yes**."

Sanji smirked, exchanging a fist bump with Luffy who did the same with Zoro, the three boys united for once in a moment of understanding that the girls had to shake their heads at. "Men," Nami said, putting their thoughts into words. "Anyway, next up would be Mr. 2?"

"Him I actually know quite well," Vivi said with a faint smile. "He's not, that is, he's…" she trailed off, trying hard to describe Mr. 2's personality when he interacted with the other agents. They didn't meet all that often, but Mr. 2 was an exception to that rule, working with the higher numbered agents and even the Millions closely.

Carue however spoke up before she could form her thoughts into words. "/He's nuttier than a fruit bat!/" the duck quacked, causing Chopper to giggle before translating the words.

"That's not very nice, but, um…" Vivi said hesitantly.

"/But it's accurate./" This time it was the turtle who spoke, his head slowly retreating into its shell for a moment before coming out. "/He dresses in this tutu thing, and always dances around the place like a ballet dancer! It's hideous! The most horrible thing I've seen in my 240 years!/"

Robin abruptly put down her book, staring first at her erstwhile steed and then at Chopper who had translated that, and when she spoke it was slow and deliberate. "I apologize for letting you see that Banchi, but, 240 years?"

The turtle nodded its head slowly. "/Yes. I've lived my entire life in the ocean and deserts of Alabasta. Why?/"

"We **will** be talking later, if I could ask for your help in translating Chopper," Robin said, her eyes lighting up with knowledge-lust for a moment.

The turtle nodded agreeably at that, and Luffy coughed into his fist. "That's for later," he said firmly. "Let's get back on topic for now."

"Yes, well, Mr. 2 does dress like that," Vivi said, unwilling to speak too poorly of the man. "He's actually quite personable and always treated the lower-ranked agents, if not kindly, then at least not cruelly. But his personal style is something called Okama-kenpo."

Sanji shuddered a little and looked over at Luffy, already giving him the finger, his teeth clamping hard on his cigarette. "Hell no! No, I will not be the one to fight him!"

"It's either him, or you take out several of the other higher numbered agents," Luffy said with a shrug. "I would've thought that job would've been better suited for Nami and Makino, but if you don't want to…"

Sanji was torn. On the one hand he really didn't want to fight someone like that, but on the other hand his chivalrous nature refused to let the ladies fight him instead. "Fine, but you owe me, Captain."

Nami laughed, cackling a little. "Don't worry about that. We'll take it out of Alabasta's treasury." She winked at Vivi, who giggled at Nami's overacting, knowing that Nami wasn't actually interested in gouging the treasury of its gold. Their library or any books on navigation, that was a different story.

"Hehehe. Anyway, you have already dealt with Mr. 3 and his partner, so next up would be Mr. 4. He and his partner work well together, though they don't actually have much in common. Mrs. Merry Christmas is always talking fast apparently, and Mr. 4 very slowly. I would assume that he's some kind of musclebound sort, but I can't say for certain. Oh, and they have a dog who they use in combat somehow. At least that's what rumors among the Baroque Works agents told me."

Luffy nodded, and Nami wrote that down before looking up. "What about Mr. 1's partner, and Mr. 2's? You didn't mention them."

"/Mr. 2 doesn't have a partner; he's his own partner,/" said both of the animals who had seen the man, quickly translated by Chopper.

Both Nami and Vivi giggled helplessly at Chopper's accents to their voices, his face actually twisting to one side as he tried to imitate the old turtle's tone in order to put enough disgust into his words. After the princess had recovered from her giggle fit, she went on, becoming serious quickly. "That, ahem, that might be true, but beyond his martial arts ability, Mr. 2 has a Devil Fruit power that is rather insidious. He is able to change into the face and form of anyone he touches."

Luffy and the others all hissed, understanding how nasty that could be in combat. "If we ever split up we'll need to work out some kind of code system, or maybe wear pieces of cloth or something of that nature…" Luffy scowled. "And Mr. 1's partner?"

"Though I don't know anything about her powers rumor is that Ms. Double-finger is almost as dangerous as Mr. 1. Her specialty is assassination, so that should tell you something."

"I'll be the one to handle her, then," Makino said calmly, shaking her head with a sigh. "If we need to, anyway."

"As for the others, I don't think they are as much of a threat as those five are. Mr. 7 and his partner Ms. Father's Day are a sniper team, but other than their appearance I don't know anything about their powers or abilities. I don't think that they have Devil Fruit powers, though, just guns. And the other, Mr. 6, has been missing for several months along with his partner."

"Those are the numbered agents. As for the rest of the Millions and Billions, they're much like the bounty hunters that Zoro fought in Whiskey Peak in terms of skill. The Millions typically man the Baroque Work's ships and are the level of regular thugs, while the Billions usually serve as spies or servants to the various numbered agents." Vivi finished.

"So, no threat," Luffy said with a smile.

"Except in large numbers," Vivi cautioned. "They're not called Millions or Billions for no reason, after all. I think there are about eighteen or twenty galleons worth of them at the very least, something like two thousand men or more, all told."

Luffy shrugged, not conceding the point but not saying anything either. "So, what are our goals here?"

"I want to meet with my father and the leader of the rebel army. Logically speaking, I suppose I could send a message to my father and have it believed. While he doesn't know where I've been, he knows what I've been doing, and Father would trust any written message from me delivered by Carue. Or I could try to set up a meeting with one of the royal guards and have him convey the message," Vivi said.

"Royal guard?"

"Yes," Vivi said, smiling happily. "Igaram wasn't the only member of the royal guard there are two more including the greatest warrior of my nation, Pell." She smiled over at Chopper. "You and the two of them have something in common. They both ate Zoan fruits too. In Chaka's case he ate the Zoan type, Model Jackal. Pell ate the Model Falcon. I remember riding his back through the skies sometimes."

"That must be nice. I love being in the air myself, though turning into a bird would be kind of strange," Luffy said with a smile.

"You have a lot of experience with that particular brand of strange," Sanji said dryly, then flinched as Luffy made to pour a glass of seawater over himself. "No, stop! We're in serious mode right now, right!?" _And he's not wearing a white t-shirt or anything sexy either!_

"Your father believing you, that's fine. But why would the leader of the rebel army listen to you? Aren't you the enemy?" Zoro asked his head cocked to one side as he looked at Vivi.

"The man who leads the rebellion is actually an old friend of mine named Kohza. He was never a proponent of the royal family unlike his father, but he was always a friend to me. Or he was, until evidence was planted that my father had been using a chemical compound callied Dance Powder to try to control the weather system over our island." Vivi replied rather bitterly. She hated the fact her best friend had believed that garbage. No matter how damning the evidence had been, Kohza knew her father, he should have trusted the man more than the evidence.

"So this old friend would really believe you after so many years of fighting against your father and your government?" Luffy asked skeptically. "Friendship's well and good, and I'd be the first to say it's one of the most important things in the world, but blood and a cause are just as important."

"I know that!" Vivi shouted suddenly making all of them jump as she glared angrily at Luffy. "I know that, but I know Kohza, and I know most of his officers too. They're all old friends of mine. They'll, Kohza, he'll listen to me."

Nami suddenly smirked, throwing arm around the younger girl's shoulders and holding up two of her fingers crossed together, wagging them suggestively. "So, were you and this mystery guy like that~?"

Robin closed her book with a snap, looking over at Vivi intently as did Makino. "Crocodile of course knows about your connection to Kohza. It's one of the reasons why he was so concerned about your skulking around. But we never figured out if you were actually lovers."

In reply to these pointed questions Vivi blushed a red that had not been seen since the last time Luffy had changed into his female form. "N-no!" she exclaimed, trying to shake Nami's arm off without success. "That is, um, no! We're not like that, and even if I had feelings like that toward Kohza, I'm a princess. I can't marry just anyone. I have to marry someone that would bring political connections or other influence to my nation."

"Harsh, though it ain't like I haven't heard that crud before. Bloody nobles, as if breeding means anything in people. We're not dogs or horses," Luffy said, shaking his head.

For just a moment Robin blushed as a rather dirty thought came to her. _Well, a certain part of you is certainly horse-like!_ But then the thought was gone, her blush banished before anyone could notice.

Nearby, Sanji went into a rage for a moment at the idea, having before sunk into a puddle of despair on the deck at the idea that Vivi had a boyfriend. Now he quickly came back into full on love cook mode. Twirling around the lounge chair where Vivi and Nami were sitting, shouting about how he wished he was a prince that could sweep her off her feet.

Rolling his eyes, Luffy coughed, gathering everyone's attention once more. "Okay, I understand why you want to meet with your father and this Kohza guy. They can hopefully call off any open warfare. But that really doesn't matter in the long term, does it?"

"What?" Vivi asked, blinking as everyone else turned to Luffy.

"Crocodile's the problem. So long as he's still out there whatever progress you make can be undone. Even with all your evidence against him, unless you have something concrete enough to maybe make him lose his Shichibukai status then it'll be your word against his. Besides, you said Baroque Works has agents. How do you know they don't have agents among the rebel army or even the royal army? Would your own people, let alone the WG, believe you if you didn't have any real concrete evidence beyond your words?"

"I know that," Vivi retorted. "But if I can just get my father and my friend to the table together then we can act against Crocodile. Both of them have a lot of public support. If they call off the war and agree that Crocodile is the real enemy, the public will believe it."

"Maybe, maybe not. And that's not saying anything about the problem of agents among their followers. Besides, what happens if Crocodile has a plan for that too?" Luffy riposted.

Vivi frowned. "What do you mean?"

"What if he has a plan for the two sides making peace with one another? What happens then? What if he decides to just launch a war of his own? Can your warriors stand up to him?"

"No," Robin said flatly before Vivi could answer. "In Alabasta, there is no one that can defeat Crocodile. This entire crew would be nothing more than targets to him there." She looked over at Luffy. "Even your Busoshoku might not be enough to let you fight him. He is that strong."

Luffy shrugged. "We'll see about that. But he is still the problem. We need to move against Croc, not just try to start up this dialogue between the two other factions. Get rid of Baroque Works and find the solid evidence we need before we do anything else. To my mind, we're the only real wildcard in this game. Even if Crocodile knows about us and something about our skills, he doesn't know everything, and there's no way he's been able to plan for us as well as he's been able to plan for you, your family, or this rebel guy getting along. Besides, were pirates."

At Vivi's quizzical look, Luffy expanded. "Pirates fighting a royal Shichibukai, who would care? That would seem like normal day-to-day business. So we take him out, then start questioning the survivors. Getting this Mr. 2 guy to show his power in front of your rebel friend and then figuring out a way to scare some of their spies out into the open will give us the evidence."

Behind her book, which was once again open, Robin hid a very small smile as she said, "You have a true grasp on tactics and getting to the heart of the matter; an old head on young shoulders I believe is the phrase."

Luffy twitched. It wasn't noticeable to anyone else, but Robin noticed and wondered. _Fascinating!_

"I can't ask you to do that!" Vivi shouted, shaking her head. "He's a Shichibukai! Why would you fight him if you didn't have to? You're just, you're just here to transport me to my country."

"Why the hell wouldn't we?" Luffy asked frowning. "We're friends, aren't we?"

As Vivi blushed at the idea of someone going that far for friendship's sake Zoro stood and began to noogie Luffy's head relentlessly, having first moved his straw hat aside to do so. "Don't act all cool like that. You just want to fight Crocodile anyway."

Luffy growled then turned swiftly, putting Zoro in a headlock. But Zoro replied by getting his arms around Luffy's waist and suplexing him into the deck, shattering the wood of the deck and the mood as the two of them fell to wrestling.

"And the serious moment is over," Nami laughed, squeezing Vivi again around the shoulders. "But don't worry about it. That moron will beat Crocodile, I have no doubt about it."

Robin looked at her, then over at Sanji who was also nodding, and frowned, wondering where their confidence was coming from. _Is it just naïve, blind confidence in their captain, or is there something more solid behind it…_

 **OOOOOOO**

Several days passed after that, with the crew still continuing to train and grow closer over time. Nami and Vivi grew as close as Nami was to her own sister, while Robin and Chopper bonded over books and the joy of silence and reading. Robin surprised herself by opening up a little more to the others thanks to Chopper's presence. It was quite nice to have him around for reasons Robin really did not want to consider too closely.

After dealing with some of the more interesting creatures that populated the waters around Alabasta, the first sight of the kingdom itself came over the horizon. Makino was up in the crow's nest at the time, practicing ranging on things with her pistol in one hand and the spyglass in the other. It had been she who had spotted the land, but Makino did not join the happy cheering going on below, continuing to look ahead of the ship.

Within a few minutes her dedication was rewarded as she could see several small ships of various sizes moving around what had to be a port. "We have ships out there too!"

"Of course there are," Vivi said happily, spinning away from where she had been dancing around with Carue and Sanji to look up at the crow's nest. "Alabasta is a major trade center, after all."

Makino nodded, but kept a sharp eye out, and moments later saw several dozen ships moving away from the other ships she could see in the harbor , and then still more coming out from over the horizon to either side. "What does the Baroque Works ensign look like?"

Vivi frowned, then quickly ascended the mast to join her, standing next to the woman on the mizzen mast for a moment as she stared through the spyglass that Makino had handed her. "Oh no! It's the Millions! They must've been able to somehow figure out…"

"Figure out nothing," Luffy interrupted with a shake of his head. "They probably just set ships up in every port and then sent out pictures of what our ship looks like. Guess our cover of Robin trying to recruit us didn't hold up."

"So what are we going to do?" Zoro asked, one hand falling to rest on his three swords eagerly. "Fight our way through?"

"There are thousands of them!" Vivi shouted, leaping down from one spar to the other to smack Zoro upside the head, only for Nami to get there first. She calmed down then, shaking her head. "No, we should try to find some little cove to put ashore first."

Nami nodded agreement. "Besides, ship to ship fighting isn't like anything else. Sanji might be decent at Geppo, but Zoro still can't control his much and it's not like we can really fight using this ship to its best effect anyway. Unless you're willing to help us against these crews Robin?"

Robin shook her head, looking away from Nami's look of hope. "No. This is close enough to Alabasta that such an action would no doubt be noticed, no matter how sneaky I am about doing so. I cannot be seen helping you in that manner."

"You do know that it's coming up to decision time, right?" Luffy asked looking at her, not seeming worried about the upcoming fight at all. "You're going to have to make a choice very soon as to whether or not to go back to Crocodile or keep working with us."

"Yes, I know." Robin said simply. "It will not bring me any pleasure to do so, but…" She shrugged, both sadness and iron determination in her face. "As I've said, I have kept my options open for a reason."

Zoro looked at her coldly, one hand falling to his swords again. "You know if you to try to betray us, especially now, we have no reason to keep you around."

"Enough," Luffy cut in, halting the discussion. "We have a bigger problem at the moment."

He gestured, and the others looked to see around forty or so ships all bearing the flag of Baroque Works racing towards them. The wind was at their back now, not the _Resolve_ , so it was doubtful they could get away without being fired upon.

Considering the numbers against them, the problem of ship-to-ship fighting, and the sheer number of cannons those other ships might have, Luffy sighed, then smirked, his blue eyes darkening dangerously. "Oh well. I know something that will change Robin's mind and get rid of this problem for us."

Standing beside his captain Zoro looked at Luffy, then across at the ships coming towards them, then back to Luffy, not quite understanding. The others too all looked confused at first.

Sanji was the first to get it, and he gulped a little, flicking out his cigarette to one side and lighting a new one before taking a long drag on it. "Are you sure you're going to be able to control **it**?" He asked seriously.

"Yes. I'm not enraged right now, so **it** will be easy enough to control. Though you all might want to step back a little," Luffy said simply.

Nami swallowed, realizing what he was talking about and not liking the idea at all but seeing no real alternative. "H-he's right. Let's head back to the stern of the ship."

Robin looked at her quizzically, then over to Vivi who also didn't seem to have any idea of what they were talking about. _Only the ones from East Blue seem to. Something he used there, some technique or other? Yet what technique or martial art skill could be so powerful as to deal with over forty galleons of people at this range?_

"This will be interesting. I don't remember much about the time you used **it** back at the Baratie," Zoro said, the only one not to have moved. Even Sanji had decided that discretion was the better part of valor, while Makino had moved to the center of the ship and was readying her pistols. But Zoro stood by Luffy's side, his arms crossed. "You going to have to wait until they're within cannon range to start?"

"Yeah. The further away they are, the less effective my attack'll be. We'll have to wait until they are all at least just hitting cannon range," Luffy said with a shrug. "Why?"

"Then I'll deflect any cannonballs that are coming our way. I might not be able to cut through them yet, but I can at least change their direction," Zoro said with a smirk. He pulled his bandana over his head, then placed Wado Ichimonji into his mouth, pulling both his other swords out and holding them to his sides.

"I'll take the starboard until they are within range. You take port," Luffy said, and the two of them went to work for a few moments as the lead ships began to fire on their schooner. Watching them both Chopper and Robin, who had not seen the two of them in action like this before, were impressed. Then Sanji joined in, literally kicking into the air and then kicking out, smashing cannonballs aside or into one another like so many nine pins, wincing occasionally at the impacts but continuing on gamely.

But it didn't seem to be doing enough to deter the enemy ships. More and more ships closed into firing range as the ship continued on its path. The ships facing them then spread out to encircle them. Soon voices could be heard over the waves during breaks in the cannon fire. There were shouts of, "Get them! Kill the Princess! If we can kill the Princess we'll be promoted to single digits!"

"Close enough?" Zoro asked, grunting as he deflected cannonball from the port side of the ship before moving back to his former position.

Luffy nodded. "Close enough." With a deep breath and closed eyes, Luffy reached within himself and slowly unchained the beast that was the Haoshoku. When his eyes opened he glared, his face solidifying into a stern, cold expression like that of an angry king as his will lashed out in a wave of power.

The crew at the back of the ship were hit with the equivalent to a light zephyr in comparison to what the rest of the people within his range felt at that moment. But it was still enough to put Vivi and Chopper on their knees and shake Robin and Nami, though Nami got over it quickly. The other three were staring wide-eyed as a literal ripple in the universe almost seemed to form for a moment, moving out from where Luffy was standing in the foredeck.

Their reaction was nothing in comparison to the effect on the Baroque Works agents on the ships surrounding them when the ripple struck them. They felt the true weight of the Haoshoku. Hundreds, then thousands of them collapsed where they had stood, foaming like rabid animals while their minds broke under the pressure of Luffy's will.

Cannons fell silent as the crewmen working on them collapsed. The men steering their ships fell, losing control of their ships, while above them people in the masts fell, some dying on impact of course, while others simply broke bones but still did not wake up from their stupor. Entire boarding parties collapsed in heaps.

Ships which had been in tight formation or even jockeying for position crashed together. Others listed badly as their tillers tried to turn them one way and the wind pushed them in another. All was confusion and hysteria as the ships crashed, collided, or otherwise fell away from the _Resolve_.

"Y-you see why I have such faith in him even against a Shichibukai?" Nami said shakily, helping Vivi to her feet. The blue-haired girl threw her arms around her friend's shoulders, shaking and gasping from her first brush with the demon Luffy held caged within him.

"What, what was that!?" Robin said, her eyes wide and staring. While she hadn't quite fallen to the deck, she was still badly shaken. Words utterly failed her for a moment as she tried to come to grips with what had just happened.

"He says it's the ultimate form of haki," Sanji said unsteadily, putting a cigarette to Banchi's mouth and lighting it, though the turtle had surprisingly dealt with the wave better than several of the others. Carue, for example, was still out of it, and Vivi was only now moving away from Nami to stand on her own wobbly feet.

"It is called Haoshoku. We learned of it from…a friend who said you have to be born with that ability and then train to learn how to control it," Makino said, smiling and reloading her pistol calmly having dealt with it far better than anyone else. Even Zoro had taken a step back, shaking his head before throwing off the effect, while Makino had simply stayed where she was, using her pistol's fire to target gunners on the attacking ships.

Looking at her fellow crewmen, Makino smiled lightly, though it did not reach her normally kind eyes. "It's called Haoshoku, the power of a king. Pure **will** made manifest. The stronger the will, the greater the power, and I don't know anyone with more willpower than Monkey D. Luffy."

Robin nodded slowly, her eyes wide at this show of power. Abruptly she strode forward and was standing right behind Luffy as he turned away from doing whatever he had just done. _He doesn't even look tired,_ a part of Robin's mind noted numbly.

Yet it was indeed decision time, and she needed to make it. She now knew that Luffy was tough enough to take on Crocodile. So the only question became whether he would be willing to help Robin achieve her dream.

"There is a thing I need to read," Robin said bluntly, standing within a few inches of Luffy, her chest almost pressing into his they were so close. "It is called the Rio poneglyph, and it choreographs the World's true history, including in particular the so-called Void Century. It has been my dream, my all-consuming goal since before I was even given my bounty. And it is within this country. Crocodile wants me to read it for his own reasons, which I do not think will occur. And he knows where it is, which I do not. That is one secret he has kept from me successfully, though how he discovered it I don't know. But I need access to that poneglyph!"

Her voice was somewhere between focused and obsessed, Luffy reflected, a very dangerous sort of voice. It was the same sort of voice Luffy heard when Zoro spoke about how he wanted to be the greatest swordsman in the world, or when any of the others talked about their dreams. _She really would fit in with this crew, wouldn't she?_ "I'll help you find it then," Luffy said simply.

"Then I agree to this alliance," Robin said, before changing the subject smoothly. "Crocodile will not shift from his position at his casino which is called Rain Dinners, not even if he hears about this, which I don't think he will, not quickly, not until these people recover. But we need up to date information, and if news about my betrayal has not reached them from before this, I can get that when we go ashore. After that I can plot us the straightest route to Crocodile's main base quickly and efficiently, though we might come under attack from long-range thanks to Crocodile's powers. He has the power to control, create and turn into sand."

"That would make him very dangerous in a desert kingdom, wouldn't it?" Luffy mused, nodding. "Still, that doesn't mean he's invulnerable. Even without Busoshoku I could figure out a way to hurt him, I think." He smiled, reaching out his hand, though he only had to do it a little ways considering how close they were. "Good to have you with us, Robin."

"Thank you, Captain-san," Robin said smiling, taking his hand in hers. For the first time she felt the flickering of something, something another person would've called hope. Even though Robin didn't realize it, that hope was based on the idea that she could not only achieve her dream, but live afterwards and maybe find a place she really belonged.

That had never been a real consideration for her before. She just wanted to know the truth. Robin had never worried about what happened afterwards; she could die happily then, and over the last decade she had wondered if perhaps that was for the best. But now, now as the _Resolve_ moved toward the port leaving chaos in its wake, Robin felt that undefinable feeling rising within her, and she wondered where it might lead.

 **End Chapter**

No Mr. 2 meeting obviously, since there was no reason for him to be sent out, and since Croc knows that Robin might have thrown in her lot with Luffy, well… things are going to be very different from here on. Heh…heh…

Anyway, hope you all enjoyed the chapter!


	11. Chapter 11

**Stallion of the Line**

Ranma's Rumiko's bitch, and I like my main characters to at least have a working brain.

While Mr. 2's character is interesting, his and the other agents' method of speech are horrifying to work with. GAAHHH!

I want to thank Michael for his work on editing this. In particular there were several sections which had more mistakes then the others, and the reading of them was greatly impacted by both the number and size of the mistakes.

 **Chapter 11: New Rivals and Plans Clashing Together**

After Robin had explained Crocodile's real motives, covertly watching Vivi closely for any hint that she knew about the poneglyph, which she didn't, there was a moment of silent contemplation. Most of the crew were worried about the idea of this monster weapon, while Vivi was analyzing all she knew about her country's history, wondering where the poneglyph would be hidden. And more importantly to her, **why** it would have been hidden in Alabasata at all, but she came up with no real answer.

The silence was broken when Luffy began to speak, his voice sharp and decisive as he put on his captain's voice, as Robin had dubbed it. "So that's what's going on with Croc. For now, though, it doesn't change what we need to do, which is to gather some up to date information. Robin and I will handle that. Zoro, Nami, you're on ship duty with Chopper. Sanji, I'd like you to stock up the ship and grab bags for a cross-desert trip. Vivi and Makino will go with you to grab some local clothing, just in case."

"Oh, I can take care of that too!" Sanji said excitedly, holding up his hand like a schoolboy answering a question in class while Nami nodded vigorously, unwilling to leave the ship unguarded given how much money they had aboard. Zoro simply leaned back against one of the masts and closed his eyes as Sanji continued, "In a desert kingdom, it's got to be dancers' clothes!"

"I don't think so," Makino said primly while the others looked confused, save for Vivi, who was blushing at the idea. "I'll find us all some local disguises; don't worry."

"Good. Also, keep an eye out for any Marine presence. This is a busy port on an island that's a hub for trade, so even if we can't see any Marine ships in sight I'd assume they're around," Luffy ordered. "And we don't need more complications."

Moments later Luffy was in his female form walking beside Nico Robin as they moved through the town. Robin was dressed in the same cowgirl outfit she had worn when she first boarded their ship, while 'Ranko' was in her bounty hunter gear: short cut-off jeans that barely came down to mid-thigh, a T-shirt, and a wide belt. The T-shirt was pale white and was covered by a loose leather vest. A pair of shades coupled with a cowboy hat much like Robin's finished the look off. This way, the two of them looked somewhat like partners.

Soon after leaving the docks the redhead turned to her compatriot, her words almost drowned out by the bazaar that seemed to dominate the street they were on for as far as the eye could see. "So, where do we go from here?"

"There is a small tavern along the main road through the city whose owner is an information broker. He's not part of Baroque Works, but he sells information to all sides in this conflict. He also sells to the Marines, I believe, so he's useful to everyone," Robin replied. "We'll start there unless I see any agents I know in the city. There will certainly still be a few Billions here despite your decapitation of the Millions back there. But searching them out could prove more time consuming than we'd like."

"Works," Luffy said, and the two of them continued through the town, listening in on conversations as they passed. The redhead noticed that while everything seemed peaceful, there were hints that even here people knew that there was something wrong with their country. Kids kept close to parents, strangers like the two of them were watched tensely until they were out of sight, and people seemed wary all the time, like they were waiting for a storm to hit. "People know that there's going to be a final conflict soon, I suppose," Luffy muttered, shaking her head.

"Agreed. Now that they have half the Royal Army on their side the rebels won't wait very long before launching an attack directly at the palace. Despite its defensive position giving it an advantage, the odds would probably be with the attackers in such an event. Could you do the same thing to two clashing armies as you did earlier to the Millions?" Robin asked, probing for information about this Haoshoku ability. Luffy had expanded somewhat on Makino's description earlier, but that hadn't been enough to stave off Robin's curiosity.

"Yeah, if it's needed. I don't like to show off like that, but it's a useful technique to deal with the weaklings, I suppose," Luffy replied.

Robin chuckled. "Only you would consider a world shattering power like that as something to use to get rid of the riffraff."

Luffy laughed too, elbowing Robin in the side lightly. "I call it like I see it." After that the two walked on, looking around and staying silent for the most part, their eyes watching everything around them.

They soon reached the bar that Robin had mentioned. The bartender twitched as he caught sight of Robin, but Luffy barely noticed. Instead, her eyes were resting on the person sitting at the bar in front of the bartender. That worthy was currently sleeping even though he was sitting upright, his next bite halfway towards his mouth, the food still steaming on his fork.

On his back was proudly displayed the mark of the Whitebeard Pirates, a dark purple cross made of bones backing an equally purple smiling skull with white, slanted eyes, teeth and, most importantly, a wide, large, white mustache. The mustache was so large it curved up over the sides of the skull, and it looked sharp along the edges.

Robin saw that mark and stiffened, but was surprised when Luffy moved over, smacking the man upside the head, causing the bartender to shake his head. "That's no way to treat the dead. He must've eaten a sand fruit. They take people like that."

To the bartender's shock the man woke up under Luffy's smack, shaking his head and turning angrily, standing up from his chair. The man was tall, taller than Luffy's male body would be by several inches, making his female form look even more petite than normal. He was also broader in the shoulders and visibly muscled, built more for strength than speed, which was a marked contrast to Luffy's spare but well-defined frame. Being shirtless, his chest was on display, and Robin noted as he turned that the man had decent definition, though not quite up to Luffy's level from what she had seen. On his upper arms he had tattoos, one of which read 'Asce', with the 'S' crossed out. On the other he had the word 'Determination' written out in small but fancy writing.

The man had looked angry as he stood, but that quickly shifted into a happy expression as he saw who had hit him upside the head. "Who the...Luffy!"

Grinning so hard it hurt her face, Luffy raised a hand, clasping the man's in a hard grip. "Yo, Ace!"

The two brothers, or rather one brother and one at the moment sister, stared at one another, and Luffy quickly signaled with a few hand gestures they had come up with years ago that Ace shouldn't comment on her current appearance.

One eyebrow quirking under his hat, Ace nodded a very slight movement up and down, before gesturing the two to come with him over to a nearby booth. "So, what's the scam this time?" he asked in a low voice. His eyes flicked over to Robin, only slightly widening as he seemed to recognize her from her wanted poster, before looking back at Luffy without saying anything.

"Call me sister for now if you have to call me anything," Luffy said with a shrug. "We're playing a bounty hunter team for the moment, since we don't want trouble with any Marines who are in town. We've got enough trouble on this island already."

"That's always disturbing," Ace said, shuddering theatrically as he pointed at Luffy. "Whenever you say I need to call you a sister I can't help but remember the little girl who was so adamant her mind didn't change, then kicked my, Sabo's, and the mountain bandits' **asses** the first time she had her monthly, screaming like a howler monkey about why the hell she was bleeding down there."

"Oy, that's supposed to be a secret, you ass!" Luffy said, flipping Ace the finger while Robin laughed beside him. "And that was a long time ago, dammit! Now I'm as at home in this body as I'll ever want ta be."

Ace laughed again, looking at Luffy closely. He looked good, or rather, she looked good, Ace amended in his mind. He had been sort of scared that Luffy would change in the intervening years, but it seemed as if he, or rather, she again, hadn't changed very much. Oh, her body had changed quite a bit, something Ace was trying not to notice for the good of his sanity. But the way she sat and Luffy's blue eyes, they hadn't changed.

"So, what brings you here?" Luffy asked. "We heard about you on Drum Island and that you were looking for me, but that's about it. Also, what is up with that Fire Fist thing? That's been bugging me and Makino-nee ever since we heard of it."

"Heh, I'll show you later. And yeah, I wanted to check in on you," Ace replied, leaning back in the booth. "I know you didn't want to start using most of your bag of tricks until you were in the Grand Line, but the rumors flying about the new monster rookie is that he can use Busoshoku?"

"Yeah I used it to kill Arlong, didn't know there were Marines in the area. Bah!" Luffy said with a shrug, downplaying the issue. Her eyes were dark, however, as she contemplated that memory, and she finished simply. "He made my navigator cry."

"Understood," Ace replied, smiling internally. "And in doing that, exceeded my first bounty! But you still have a ways to go before you can catch up with my second bounty. I tripled the amount of my bounty up to 246 million before I hit the Red Line."

"Bah," Luffy said with a laugh, "I'll get there soon enough."

"I also wanted to give you Sabo's greetings." Other people would have said love, but brothers or not, Luffy, Ace, and Sabo were all guys, and bandying the word love around was just not going to happen. "He wanted to come himself, but he didn't have any reason to come back to Paradise, while I did, something completely unconnected with you. And his…duties…keep him busy most of the time."

"Paradise?" Robin asked, taking part in the conversation for the first time.

Ace glanced her way, cocking his head towards her before looking at Luffy, who replied to the unanswered question. "This is Nico Robin, my intelligence officer and archaeologist." Luffy leaned her shoulder against the taller woman's for a second. "We…recently came to that agreement despite the fact that we had been transporting her for a few weeks. I wonder if I should charge her rent for that time now?"

Robin chuckled, bumping her own shoulder against the shorter girl's, but did not look away from Ace. "You were saying?"

"One track mind there," Ace replied with a chuckle, one finger pushing up his hat as he smirked at the older woman. "Paradise? That's the name all of us New World veterans called this half of the Grand Line. We call the second half the New World, because that is where the future is going to be decided one way or the other. If anything important is going to happen, it'll happen there. All the movers and shakers are there, all the powers of the world are represented there, and the only way to Raftel is through the New World.

"The oceans there are so much more chaotic, the islands and the weather and everything! It's literally an entirely different world even from this half of the Grand Line. That's why we call this half Paradise. It's easy going."

Aces eyes had become almost fiery as he spoke about the New World, and he looked at his younger 'sister' with a grin that would have told Robin they were related even if she hadn't known beforehand. "Luffy, I'm sorry. I know I told you I'd help you become Pirate King," he said in a low voice, "but I've decided I'm going to make Whitebeard Pirate King."

Luffy cocked her head thoughtfully to one side, answering in the same low tone. "That's fine. I wasn't planning on asking for your help anyway. But do you really think that Whitebeard wants to be the Pirate King?"

Ace blinked at that, but before he could say anything Robin came back into the conversation. "Look out!" she said, standing up quickly and moving towards another booth, sliding into it. She had been glancing out of one of the nearby windows, a habit that had saved her life several times, and had seen a few individuals dressed in Marine uniforms coming towards the bar.

Pulling her hat down over her face, Robin leaned back as if she was asleep a second before the door opened. In walked the two Marine officers, one of whom Luffy recognized immediately as Smoker. They moved towards the bar, smoking on a cigar and cigarette respectively.

They stopped halfway across the room, seeing a man with the Whitebeard pirate mark sitting there with a young woman neither of them recognized. Glaring at the massive tattoo of the Whitebeard Mark on Ace's back, Hina backed off quickly. She didn't want to cause an incident here for many reasons, primarily because of the bystanders and the rumors about Fire Fist Ace, who both officers, of course, recognized.

But in contrast Smoker marched straight up to the booth, glaring down at both of the individuals there, puffing heavily on his cigar as he growled, "What is the Second division commander of the Whitebeard Pirates doing in this country?"

Ace looked up and twisted his body around so that his legs were sticking out of the booth and his back was against the wall, putting his hands behind his head, the picture of cockiness. Luffy had to give Ace about an eight and a half out of ten for the sheer level of cockiness that the pose showed.

"Nothing that concerns the Marines," Ace said with a smile. "I'm not here to fight anyone. I'm not here to make trouble for you, Crocky, or this country. Just here for a drink, a talk, and moving on. Then I met this lovely lady…"

Luffy shuddered, reaching across the table to smack Ace's arm. "Don't even joke, gah!"

Smoker's hard eyes flicked to her, and Luffy shrugged. "I might be a bounty hunter, but I'm not stupid! I figured if I wasn't going to try to fight him, I could ask some questions about Whitebeard I've always wondered about." She cocked her head thoughtfully to one side, her face the picture of confused innocence as she looked at Smoker. "I've heard of you, Smoker, but aren't you supposed to use some kind of large polearm or something? Are you a fist fighter instead? The rumor mill's not usually that far off."

"Bounty hunter?" Hina asked, while Smoker glared at the bounty hunter for reminding him of the loss of his jutte. Ace, on the other hand, glanced at Luffy, whose fingers twitched again in a sign that she would tell him about that later.

Luffy nodded, checking Hina out while Hina did the same to her. Hina was definitely one of the more attractive girls that Luffy had seen, but then again she'd seen a lot of attractive girls since going out to sea. _Though seeing her in person makes that whole pinup incident make more sense._

In return, Hina connected the red-haired girl with rumors coming out of East Blue and let her lips twitch into a smile around her cigarette. "Hina intrigued. I've heard of you. Bounty Hunter Ranko, correct? Though I had not heard reports indicating you had entered the Grand Line."

Luffy shrugged. "Stowed away on a pirate ship, then left them as soon as I could after knocking out most of the crew. None of whom had bounties, more's the pity. Eventually made my way here. I'd hoped to find some more partners along the way, but haven't had much luck there. Heard rumors of this guy being in town," Luffy said, reaching over to slap Ace upside the head, a show of courage that made Smoker twitch and Hina chuckle, while Ace simply turned a glare on her. "And decided to see what he was like."

"And if we paid you to help us capture him?" Smoker asked, his glare not moving from Ace's face.

Luffy laughed, while Ace simply grinned like a shark asked to dinner. "You don't have enough money on you, and I'm not willing to get my ass kicked just because of your idiotic excuse for justice. Just because I don't like pirates don't mean I like Marines any better. At least with pirates, they're honest about what they're after most of the time, while you Marines don't care what happens out of your sight so long as you can imagine you're keeping your pretty white coats clean."

Smoker twitched at that, finally turning his glare on her as Ace threw back his head with a laugh. Hina, on the other hand, simply let her lips twitch into a smirk as she crossed her arms. "Hina amused. Little girls should know their strengths and their weaknesses. Bounty hunters should also remember how little love Marines have for them when they mouth off."

In response 'Ranko' glared at her for a moment, then smirked, touching her smaller chest lightly. "No one's ever said I was a quick learner. So how's your back with those things? I bet it's pretty tough to get your troops to see past your tits, or do you have a whip to go with that look to keep 'em in line? Though there you probably run into at least a few that like that kind of thing."

Now it was Hina's turned to glare at Ranko, as it was in fact a sore point for her at times. As a woman she liked knowing that men found her attractive, but there was a limit to that. The idea that most of her own troops followed her because she was a gorgeous woman rather than a competent officer sometimes did irritate her. She flicked her cigarette out to one side, cracking her knuckles. "You want to go?"

Luffy stood up from the booth with a sudden and very dangerous grin lighting her features. "Sure, so long as there's no hard feelings after?"

Hina merely nodded her head, neither she nor Smoker noticing Robin using this moment to escape out the door. Robin glanced back and caught Luffy looking at her for a brief moment with a wink, and Robin chuckled before racing on. Her being seen by the Marines was a complication they didn't need at this point.

While Luffy had winked, Hina's attention had turned back to the two boys as Smoker lashed his fist out at Ace. "I can't ever let you go, so long as you're a pirate, and I'm a Marine!"

In reply to the attack Ace smacked his fist aside, pushing back and then kicking off the wall to roll forward, exiting the booth as the fist suddenly expanded to one side, smoke flying and pushing the fist back towards Ace's head.

As the smoke began to spread, Luffy leaped the other way, putting some distance between herself, Ace, and the two Marines. At the same time and with curse under her breath, Hina leaped forward to join Smoker in attacking Ace. Luffy alighted on the bar, crouching there and watching intently, but not taking part as most of the other bar patrons scrambled for the door.

"Now that's just not fair," Ace said while dodging under an attack from Hina, putting both Marines in front of him for a moment, though he was concentrating on Smoker, whose arms and legs had disappeared into smoke billowing out to either side of him. "I suppose I should respond in kind."

With that Ace's body suddenly turned into flames, forcing Hina to back away with a choked off curse. A second later Ace thrust forward, his fist slamming out as fire jetted towards her.

But Hina dodged to one side, rolling away and distancing herself from what was now a fight outside her abilities.

To one side Luffy smacked a fist into her palm as she continued to watch the fight. "Oh, so that's what that means!"

As Luffy watched, rather amused to be on the sidelines for this, the two combatants began to fight in the center of the room. Logia against Logia fights were rare, but this one seemed destined to be a stalemate. As far as she could tell, the two elements could do some damage to one another, but nothing lasting, certainly nothing that would carry over to the two men's actual forms.

The heat of the conflict quickly drove most of the onlookers out of the bar. As the conflagration began to develop and the air became unbearably hot, the two's attacks burst up out of the top of the restaurant, Ace's fire searing through the wood and even concrete easily. Luffy was about to follow them, figuring she could find Ace after he broke contact with the Marines, when she saw the bartender hiding behind the bar. Shaking her head, Luffy leaned down to offer the man a hand, when several dozen kegs of ale were crushed from above, their contents suddenly spraying the area over the bar with their now warmed up contents.

Luffy had a bare second to realize that she was about to transform before she leaped into action, hurling herself forward and down over the bartender's head, feeling the hot sake hit her, starting the change. One hand lashed out at the wall with desperate energy smashing it open, and Luffy landed, rolling out of the opening this created as he bit back a feeling of pain as he felt his crotch being crushed by the panties Makino had forced her to wear. _Method acting my fucking ass!_

Whimpering and moaning, Luffy desperately reached under the skirt he had been wearing, pulling off the panties. "God dammit! That is the last time I let Makino talk me into wearing those things." He groaned, moving forward to hide in the corner of the dark alley as the bartender followed him, leaning back as the pain in his crotch slowly began to subside. Above him the spiral of smoke and fire continued to grow.

 **OOOOOOO**

Having left the site of the confrontation behind her, Robin traversed the city's byways quickly, her eyes flicking here and there, watching for secret signs and markers that only Baroque Works agents would know. She found them quicker than she had expected and made her way through a series of back alleys to a small mom-and-pop sort of restaurant set into the basement of a tiny building, a narrow staircase leading down into it, the doorway covered with a purple cloth instead of a solid door.

The purple was a mark that the place was currently in use, and seeing it Robin nodded and entered quickly. Letting the purple cloth fall back into place behind her, she came face-to-face with several Baroque Works Billions pointing guns at her. "Really?" she asked, cocking her head to one side. Before any of them could pull their triggers there was a fluttering of petals, and some force none of them could see smashed their weapons to the floor.

"That is no way to greet a superior," Robin said calmly, moving through the wreckage she had just caused to a specific small booth at the back of the restaurant.

Only a few of the agents hadn't been pointing weapons at Robin. One was in that booth, and he looked up at her fearfully, but also with a trace of arrogance. In front of him sat a Den-Den Mushi, its large body set with a distinctive look Robin had seen hundreds of times before. "The boss wants to talk to you, Ms. All-Sunday," the man said. "We knew you were in the city, so he's been waiting for our call."

Instead of simply turning and running away as the man had obviously thought she would, Robin simply nodded, sitting down across from him with a lazy air. Crossing her legs and leaning back, she smirked at the man. Robin had been playing games like this since she was seven. She knew when to bluff, when to run, and when someone could only make empty threats. "Then please do make the call."

The man gulped, but did so, the other side picking up after only a few rings. "Boss, Mr. 0, sir… She, Ms. All-Sunday…she's here."

The transceiver portion of the Den-Den Mushi spoke with a lazy, arrogant drawl, its tone a deep baritone, oozing authority and power. "Give her the phone."

Robin held out a hand, and the man dropped the other half of the phone into her outstretched palm as if it was a live wire. Chuckling at that, Robin put the transmitter to her mouth. "Mr. 0 I am back, though my welcome was somewhat warmer than I expected despite my being so late."

"You say that after betraying me? Did you think I would not find out? You cost me a valuable tool in Mr. 3 and killed another somewhat less valuable one in Ms. Valentine," Crocodile replied. With each word his voice became deeper until it was a sort of bark almost as if he was biting off the words in his anger.

"I had nothing to do with Mr. 3's defeat," Robin said honestly, though she was somewhat dismayed at this sign that she had been watched. _The Unluckies, I suppose?_ "That was all Roronoa Zoro's fault. I did what I had to in order to keep my cover."

"Do not take me for a fool, Nico Robin! You have betrayed me to this Straw Hat crew. What did they promise you? That they would be able to help you achieve your dream as well as I could? Money? Wealth, security? What did they give you that I could not? I'm honestly curious," Crocodile asked, his voice going back to its controlled growl.

"Friendship," Robin said simply. "And do not use my name. It sounds foul when you say it."

She hadn't noticed that until she had heard her name on Crocodile's lips. But Luffy and the crew had been using Robin's name freely from the moment she was came aboard. When they did there was no disgust, no loathing in their faces or expressions, or even wariness. There was some suspicion, of course, but even then not from all of the crew. That had helped make her feel at home for the first time in a very, very long time, possibly just as much as the character of Luffy and the others had.

"You know they have no chance against me," Crocodile said, his voice matter-of-fact rather than simply arrogant. It was as if he was simply discussing the weather. The very idea that rookies could fight him, could stand against him and his plans, was sheer hubris in his mind, regardless of their captain knowing Haki. "And I don't need you whole to make use of your abilities. Come back now and I might forgive you."

"And now we are down to coarse threats," Robin said, crossing her arms over her chest, one hand propping the communicator in front of her lips. "That's rather predictable."

"Without my aid you know you will never achieve your dream, Nico Robin," Crocodile said, his voice once again becoming angry. "You need me. You need my information just as much as I need your ability to translate the ancient language. You will never achieve your lifelong **dream** , your **obsession,** without me!"

"You know what?" Robin said with a chuckle, remembering Luffy's grin in her mind, his acceptance of her and his immediate agreement to her request for help, as well as the power he had displayed. "I rather think I will."

With that she stood up just as there was a loud series of loud snaps and pops all around her, followed by muffled groans which quickly fell silent. "Farewell, Crocodile. I don't know if we'll meet in person before this is all over, but if we do, consider this my resignation." With that she dropped the top of the Den-Den Mushi onto the table and turned, walking through the now dead bodies of the agents all around her.

After leaving the restaurant Robin walked around for a bit, noticing a massive column of smoke and fire rising into the air from the direction she knew the original restaurant she had been in was. _My, they're really going at it, aren't they?_ _Interesting to discover that Fire Fist is a rather literal name for Ace rather than some kind of flowery prose. I suppose I should not have assumed that the morons to come up with bounty nicknames had enough poetry in their souls to use such, but even so that is rather disappointing._

Still walking on, she cocked her ears, sometimes conjuring a few around her to overhear conversations, trying to get a determination of the lay of the land without access to the BW network. It sounded as if the remaining Royal Army had begun to fortify the capital, while the rebels had, as she had told Luffy they would, gathered into one single army. Rumor was that they were even now gathering resources for a march across the desert towards the capital city.

Of course, desert marching was slow and ponderous, made worse by the sheer number of people they had to feed and water. But she estimated that it would only be three, perhaps on the outside five days before they reached the capital.

Her musings on this were interrupted as she heard a familiar voice going, "Beautiful, excellent! You look lovely, oh princess of my heart!"

Looking in that direction, she saw Makino standing by a stall talking with a vendor who was looking rather irritated as the other, older woman continuing to shake his head angrily at Makino. Beyond her stood Vivi, looking embarrassed in a rather fetching dancer's uniform, loose flowing silk pants, and tight fitting silk brassiere. _She does have a decent body,_ Robin thought, _and the curves to pull that off, I suppose…_

Deciding, however, that she didn't want to get involved in what was looking like a confrontation between Sanji and Makino, Robin turned, making her way through the city in a different direction.

 **OOOOOOO**

Luffy recovered from what he ruefully decided to call the damaging of the danglies, moving away from the now badly battered restaurant. He quickly found a quiet alleyway in which to change into his normal clothing, including his straw hat, before heading back to the fight. The jutte he had taken from Smoker, which had been in his hidden weapons space, was now out and openly displayed over one shoulder. Luffy figured that Smoker was here for him, so he might as well take the time to twit the Marine again.

Hopping over the rooftops, Luffy came to the point where the two elemental forces of fire and smoke were still trying to wage war upon one another. He shouted out, "Hey Ace, is that you?" addressing him as if this was the first time they had seen one another in a long while rather than a bare few minutes ago.

Ace turned, summoning up a wall of fire to keep the smoke back even as Smoker retreated into his normal human body, glaring up at where Luffy stood on the rooftops. "Straw Hat! Surrender or else!"

Luffy ignored him for a moment, as did Ace. "Luffy! Been a while! I saw your bounty poster! Not bad, ya beat my own rookie bounty! So, have you found yourself a crew yet?"

The younger boy nodded, and Smoker glared at the two brothers, interrupting before Luffy could speak, his teeth clenched so hard around a series of cigars it was a wonder the words came out at all. "How do you two know one another?"

The two of them looked at Smoker, then pointed at each other saying as one, "He's my brother!"

Then Luffy blinked, a slow, deliberately antagonistic drawl entering his tone as a smirk appeared on his face. "Oh, I didn't see you there, Smoky. Wait, so you couldn't beat the little brother so you tried to fight the bigger one? That's so dumb, manNN!"

At the word 'man', Luffy suddenly flipped forwards while kicking out backwards. He felt his kick deflected or blocked by someone's forearm before he twisted around entirely to face behind him to find Hina standing there. Looking at her, Luffy reflected as always that it was nice to find out that he was able to look someone in the eye in this form. Cocking an eyebrow at the woman, Luffy let his smirk change slightly into a more amused rather than sarcastic form. "You're not even going to introduce yourself before you attack me? I'm hurt."

Hina chuckled lightly, tossing her white cape to one side to stand there in her purple uniform, cocking her hands up in a classic boxer's stance even as she shifted slightly, her legs spreading into a stance Luffy would have thought was taken from Muay Thai back in his old world. "Hina amused. I am Captain Black Cage Hina. Come quietly, pirate, or I will bring you in by force."

Luffy nodded, again acting as if he hadn't seen her before. "Oh yeah. Ji-kure talked about you."

"Crazy grandpa?" Hina asked, circling to one side, forcing Luffy to do the same.

"Hey Luffy, shut up!" Ace shouted before Luffy could blurt out anything he didn't want known.

But at that moment Smoker pushed forward and attacked him again, his smoke form rising over Ace's fire wall.

And while Ace preferred to keep everything about his past hidden, Luffy simply saw no reason to not say he was related to Garp to the Marines. It wasn't like Ji-kure would keep it a secret after all. "Yeah, Ji-kure. Or as the rest o' the world knows him, Monkey D. Garp."

"You're related to that hero of the Marines? Hina skeptical," Hina scoffed. Then she paused, straightening up slightly from her fighting crouch, her curiosity getting the best of her. "What did Garp-san supposedly say about me?"

"That he thought you were too smart for your rank and one of the better up-and-coming tacticians. Mind you, that wasn't all he said about you. The other thing was that you were a damn nuisance due to your effect on his crew. Though I think that was because of that pinup calendar he found that featured you." Luffy half-complimented, half-teased.

Hina scowled angrily, biting down on her cigarette before spitting it to one side. "Stupid calendar! Stupid, stupid photographers! Hina enraged! That has been haunting me for years!"

Luffy shrugged as if it didn't matter to him, which it didn't. "Heh, yeah, the old man nearly had a mutiny on his hands when he, um, confiscated that calendar. Said he didn't care if the men had swag like that about random civvies, but wouldn't let them have one of another officer, though that might have been because of some old fart named Tsura or something who seemed to always scare him when I was younger."

That caused Hina to laugh, shaking her head, her pink hair waving to and fro. "Hina amused. If you ever met Tsura, you would be scared of her too."

"If she scared Ji-kure probably yeah, though this is all sort of beside the point right now, isn't it?" Luffy replied, still smirking. "Or are you not as strong as Gramps said?"

"Why don't we find out!?" Hina shouted, charging forward.

Luffy lashed forward, forcing Hina to dodge a punch before rolling backwards quickly from another slip kick. _This pirate is_ _ **fast**_ _!_ Indeed, for the next few seconds it was all Hina could do to dodge Luffy's assault, slowly getting use to his speed, wary of taking a blow from a pirate she had heard could use Haki. _Still, he has no idea about my power…_

A moment later she ducked rather than dodged to either side as she had been and Hina activated her power. At her mental command one of Hina's hands morphed into a series of handcuffs as her arm shot upward, clamping down on Luffy's arm and twisting around, pulling Luffy off balance, her other arm coming up in a chop, her power activating as she struck.

Luffy however reacted quickly, pushing up off the roof they were currently fighting on and leaping up and over Hina, forcing her to disengage her arm or have it dragged behind her, possibly twisting it out of its socket. This left Luffy's arm still in the black lock her hand had become.

But to her surprise, Luffy simply slammed his free hand down on the black metal, shattering it with an ease that made her instantly wary of the strength Luffy was hiding in that slim, admittedly attractive body of his. For his part Luffy merely smirked at her. "That's an interesting technique. Let's see what we can do about it!"

Hina growled but rushed forward, unwilling to let Luffy have enough time to analyze her ability or to bring out his Busoshoku. But instead of backing away, Luffy charged to meet her. _Damn it! Is he going to use his haki?_ Hina had tried at one point during training with her power to let a haki-infused punch go through her hand as she activated her power. It hadn't worked, and it had been intensely painful, like being stabbed from the inside.

To her surprise, however, Luffy did something else. A fist flashed for her head so fast there was a faint boom sound, then between one second and the next stopped suddenly, letting the air slam into her with as much force as the physical punch would have conveyed.

She staggered to one side, but Hina was tough and brought her leg up in an attempt to catch Luffy with a knee to the chest. Luffy dodged at the last second, flowing around it in a way that she recognized. _Kami-E._ _Smoker said he could_ _use it, but I didn't see him activate it. That shows a mastery of the technique that I would never have thought a pirate could have. Hina worried now._

Despite that thought though, Hina refused to retreat, her punches and kicks moving faster and faster, activating her own Kami-E and even at one point using Tekkai when she couldn't dodge a blow. Her Kami-E, however, was not as good as Luffy's, and she started to take hits. In return she activated her powers every time she managed to touch Luffy's body, and he had to back away occasionally to break the cages she placed on him.

At these points Hina pushed forward hard. But Luffy was too fast, even with her cages weighing him down. Hina slowly realized that she couldn't win this without breaking out her entire arsenal.

The smile Luffy gave her after one exchange, however, nearly made her stumble. Instead of being smug or even challenging, the smile was happy and excited. "Damn! Okay, so you are as good as Ji-kure thought!" Leaping backwards, Luffy crouched, bringing his hands down to the rooftop before slashing them forward. "But let's see you deal with this!"

From his hands flashed out modified Rankyakus, a sight that caused Hina's eyes to widen. But she gritted her teeth and shouted out, "Tekkai!" Taking the blows, she pushed her arms out to the sides, launching into her own attack. "Awase Baori (Lined Kimono Feather Cage)!" From her arms and hands came a massive cage extending to either side and down and up into the air. She swiftly brought her hands together, attempting to trap Luffy within the cage's environs.

Luffy's attack cut off, and he leaped into the center of the cage she was forming, his hands and arms flashing out. Still, they didn't turn black, the tell-tale sign of Busoshoku. Instead they flashed so fast Hina couldn't track them. There was a sound like ripping air for a moment and the steel of her cage exploded in every direction, the bars coming apart under some massive impact.

Before Hina could do more than stare, Luffy's feet touched down for a brief second before he hurled himself forward. Hina couldn't dodge, her arms still held forward, stuck in her technique. The pain of having the bits of metal connected to her body shattered and her body still being in Tekkai had combined to cause her to seize up. She couldn't even pull out of Tekkai and reactivate her paramecia power in her own body.

The punch this time sounded out again like the attack that had shattered her cage, and Hina flew backwards, blood flying from her mouth as she felt what had to be several hundred impacts on her chest and stomach. She slammed into the ledge of the rooftop, shattering it before falling to the ground, only to feel someone grab her midair. She looked up through watery, pain-filled eyes to stare at the pirate she had been fighting holding her in his arms.

An old, old fear began to rise up in Hina's chest at that, but before it could truly grip her she felt her body being set down on the ground as Luffy ducked to one side, a fist appearing out of a smoky arm going through the air his head had recently inhabited, only the fist being solid enough to hit. An instant later the fist turned, grabbing at the jutte and pulling it off of Luffy's shoulder, only now bringing Hina's attention to the weapon Luffy hadn't bothered to use.

"Hey Smokey, what the hell, man!" Luffy growled before his next words surprised, no, shocked, Hina. Not that the pirate said them, but that, she would later reflect, she believed them. "I was just setting her down; the fights over for her now. I wasn't going to do anything!"

"And it is kind of rude disengaging from our fight like that, Smoker," Ace said calmly, reforming his own body as Smoker did the same, glaring at both pirates. In the distance they could hear the tramp of booted feet coming closer, but neither pirate was concerned about that, instead staring at Smoker.

Smoker didn't bother with words. The sight of Luffy standing over Hina's battered body had pushed any coherent thought out of his mind. He charged forward, his form expanding once again into smoke. The hand with the jutte sliced one way, forcing Ace to dodge as he realized there was something special about the weapon, while Smoker swiftly enclosed Luffy's body in smoke.

But even as the smoke tried to restrain him Luffy leaped up, his legs and arms flashing in every direction, hard Rankyakus crashing out. Smoker's main body appeared as the rest of the smoke dissipated, his body being hurled back by a few of the air blades which crashed into him.

Sighing theatrically, Luffy shook his head, using Soru to jump forward so quickly that to Smoker's wide eyes it appeared as if he had disappeared. Luffy grabbed the jutte out of the air. "It's been what, four weeks, five since we saw each other, Smoker? And you don't seem to have gotten any better. That's kind of sad. I would've thought you'd have come up with something to counter the techniques I used on you the last time at the very least."

Smoker grunted, trying to push to his feet, but the jutte, his own damn jutte, **again** slammed down onto his head, sending him crashing back to the ground.

"Huh, so you haven't lost a step since the last time we sparred," Ace said conversationally, moving forward to look at Hina closely before glancing over at Luffy. "That air punch thing of yours and the, what do you call it, Thousand Fist or whatever? That fucking hurts when it hits, though I doubt it would do anything to my fire form. Wind might punch through smoke, but fire would simply bend around it." He paused, thinking. "Wouldn't it?"

"Heh, we can maybe check on that later. Right now I ain't interested in dealing with the peons." Luffy pointed down the street as several dozen Marines ran into sight with the familiar form of the sword-wielding Marine girl in the lead. What was her name, Tash something? "Yo, Tash! Ya mind looking after these two for us? We're just gonna go now."

Tashigi nearly tripped at the name 'Tash,' but kept on racing forward, her mind unwilling to admit that if Smoker and Hina had been taken out by the two pirates standing over them that she and her men had scant chance against them. "Stop right there!"

"I'll just take that as a yes," Luffy muttered, turning back to Smoker as Ace leaped up onto the roof Luffy had fought Hina on, waiting there for his younger brother. "So yeah, we're here, though I ain't gonna tell you why. You'll probably find that out on your own. I'd dare ya to try yer luck against me again, Smokey, but if you haven't gotten any better in five weeks, I doubt you'll be worth my time in a bare few days."

Luffy glanced over at Hina. "If it makes ya feel better, ya did better than this guy did. Made me break out more of my tricks, for certain." Hina blinked at that, then felt a smile form on her bleeding lips as Luffy went on. "Actual style and technique beat brute force and logia ability, Smokey. Ya might want think about that before we meet again. Later."

With that Luffy leaped up to join his brother, dodging around a slash from Tashigi as she reached them, Luffy still carrying the jutte.

Hina pushed herself to her feet watching the two pirates race off. "Hina intrigued…and enraged. I know now why you are after this Luffy so fanatically now, Smoker-kun. He does have a way of infuriating you, doesn't he?"

 _Both through words and through kindness. Leaving a Marine alive like that, showing compassion? That hurts my pride just as much as your attacks hurt my body, Monkey D. Luffy and I swear I will get you back for it!_

 **OOOOOOO**

Several dozen rooftops away, Luffy shivered between one jump and the next, his arms going around his body as he nearly lost his balance. Ace steadied him quickly, looking at the younger man quizzically. "What's wrong?"

"Ugh, I think someone just either declared vengeance on me or a rivalry. Not certain which," Luffy scowled.

"Well, we did just kick the crap out of two high ranking Marines. These things should be expected," Ace commiserated. "Hell, it's not like you're the only one with rivals. Let me tell you about the last time I ran into Momonga. He…"

 **OOOOOOO**

As she had expected, Robin was one of the first to return to the ship, followed by Sanji and the two girls. Makino shook her head at the others as they climbed aboard. "Is it just me, or was there a giant column of fire and smoke in the distance there?" She looked around dramatically, then sighed. "And Luffy is nowhere in sight, of course."

"Your instincts are correct," Robin said from where she was leaning against the mainmast. "We ran into his brother Ace, but were then found by the Marines, including one Commodore Smoker. I gathered from what little I overheard before slipping away that Luffy had made an impression on him when you all escaped East Blue."

Zoro chuckled at that, trying to cover up a moment of interest at the idea that a certain sword-wielding Marine might have followed her superior officer in coming after them. "We kicked his ass, along with most of his Marines," he said bluntly. "Before we talk about that or what this Ace guy's like, do you all have anything that we can use to cool down Chopper?"

Beside the swordsman Chopper lay spread out, gasping in air while several compresses of cold seawater were pressed to his head under his hat and on his limbs.

"Yeah, the poor little guy began to suffer the moment we docked. Before that the wind was keeping him relatively cool," Nami elaborated, leaning down to rest a hand on his forehead before teasing him slightly. "I don't suppose there's any way you could take that coat of yours off, is there?"

Chopper moved the compress covering his face just enough to give her the stink eye, and Nami giggled as she stood up. "Yeah, you fit right in with this crew!"

The reindeer boy laughed at that, but leaned back, even that brief movement of levity having taken it out of him. He was a reindeer after all, and reindeer were not often found in deserts. Even with a near constant breeze coming off the ocean the heat was extreme. Worse, everyone knew they would be moving inland soon, and Chopper's suffering would continue.

"I'm sorry, but no. Oh, I found some cosmetics and other things we can use to change our appearance, but in terms of actual disguises I'm afraid that Sanji beat me to it. And…I didn't bring enough money to buy both more actual food supplies and a second set of clothing. My mistake for letting Sanji keep hold of the purse," Makino admitted.

She had assumed that having Sanji do the haggling would be a good thing in most cases, since the majority of the peddlers had been men, and she had seen the chef haggle, he was simply better than her when it came to doing so with men. With women, of course, he had no such ability. "I suppose if we can stay here long enough I can go back, of course."

"I don't think we want to be here when the Millions Luffy knocked out regain what passes for their senses," Nami replied, shaking her head quickly. She reached into the bag that Sanji held out willingly, pulling out what looked at first like a bra or a swimsuit, and then she pulled the rest of the costume out and laughed, turning away to head inside. "I'll be right back."

Zoro pointed at the creature standing beside Sanji. "What's with the camel, Aho-cook?"

"Bah, has that growth on your head sapped your brain, Marimo?" Sanji scoffed one arm sweeping out to encompass the three remaining women on deck. "We are heading out into the desert soon. How can even a bore like you think to even try to force such delicate flowers to march in such an environment?"

Rolling his eyes, Zoro looked at the camel, not liking the look of him for some reason. But before he could say anything Nami returned, and Sanji's jaw dropped as his eyes turned into hearts and he danced around Nami in ecstasy. "Beautiful, gorgeous, angelic Nami-swan!"

Only Zoro noticed the camel's eyes also turning into hearts, albeit smaller ones. _Crap, snail-brows found a kindred spirit!_

The dancing girl outfit was made of silk much like the one Vivi had been almost forced into, save it had tan leggings and a blue bra in comparison to Vivi's white and pink. The look put Nami's chest on display, pushing her breasts up and out slightly, giving her even more cleavage than normal. It also hugged her hips and put her svelte, trim stomach on display.

"Angelic would not be the word I would choose," Makino said tartly, shaking her head as Nami reveled in Sanji's attention.

Nami smirked at her, running her hands through her hair and thrusting out her chest. "I suppose if you feel you that you're a little too **old** to pull this off, then you can leave it to me and Vivi."

"Thank you, but no. Once in the town was enough!" Vivi retorted, blushing hotly. She was currently dressed in the same pants Nami was, but she wore a nice, if a little too tight, T-shirt over her bra.

Makino however narrowed her eyes at the younger girl, then thrust out her hand at Sanji commandingly. "Give."

A moment later she returned, and Sanji began to gush blood from his nose, his eyes moving wildly between Nami and Makino, his breath coming out in short gasps. Despite Nami's taunt, Makino was still only in her mid-thirties and had kept in shape her entire life. She had longer legs than Nami, and while her breasts weren't quite as big, her waist was trimmer, her hips slightly more womanly, and she had a six pack, which Nami could not boast.

The green tinted silk pants and bra suit also set off her green hair to good effect, emphasizing her pale skin. "I think the jury rests on whether I can make this look good, **if** I was so inclined," Makino said, looking at Nami challengingly, who simply grinned back at her. "The problem is Nami-chan that unlike you, I have learned that flaunting everything like this makes it become rather…stale."

That remark caused Nami's eyes to narrow, but their argument was interrupted by two voices coming from the side of the ship nearest the dock speaking as one. "Gah, I so did not want to see that."

The crew, even Chopper, turned to see Luffy and another slightly older young man crouching side by side on the bulwark before hopping down onto the actual deck. "Ace!" Makino shouted, racing forward to pull him into a hug. "It's been years! How are you doing?"

"I'm doing fine, or I was until I saw my big sister figure dressed up like a pole dancer," he said, his teeth clenched around the words. "And why exactly are you dressed like that?

"It's all his fault for buying this stuff when my back was turned," Makino said without any hesitation or concern, pointing over her shoulder to Sanji.

That worthy suddenly gulped as both Luffy and Ace turned to him, cracking their knuckles as a dark aura appeared behind them. "Oh ho…. Sanji, we need to talk about boundaries…" Luffy said coldly.

As Sanji flinched away, trying to back away and beg for mercy at the same time, Robin stepped back, now looking at both young men closely. _Seeing the two of them like this, it's obvious they're brothers. When he was in his female form that connection was only visible in their smiles._

Despite being at least two years younger, Luffy was only an inch shorter than his brother, but had a far thinner frame. Luffy was built for speed over everything, while Ace was just as heavily muscled as Zoro. But when it came to muscle definition, Luffy had Ace beat. Robin couldn't see a single muscle on Luffy that hadn't been trained to an insane level, which was shown to a most enticing degree on his stomach and sides. _Will he keep that definition as he continues to age?_

Nami saw the look in her eye and nudged her, looking away from the torture of Sanji for a just a brief moment. "What is it?"

"Oh, just wondering how much Luffy will look like his brother in the future," Robin said musingly, before shaking her head.

By that point the two brothers had finished beating Sanji into submission, and they turned, looking at the rest of the crew. Luffy placed a hand on Ace's broad shoulder, and said formally, "Ladies and gentlemen, my crew one and all, this is my brother, Ace. Apparently he's named Fire Fist because he ate the Mera-Mera no Mi, and he's also Whitebeard's worst division commander."

"Oy, that's second, not worst, you little bastard!" After smacking his brother upside the head, Ace bowed his head respectfully to the rest of his crew. "Hello all. I'm glad my brother was able to build a good crew. I understand you all had a lot of adventures already, including putting up with this one's idea of training?" They all nodded, and Ace shook his head. "You have my sympathies."

"Thank you," said more than one of the group while Luffy chuckled.

This was followed by a round of introductions while the crew also got the ship underway. Robin directed them out of the harbor to the south, moving along Alabasta's shoreline. They were just out of the harbor when Luffy asked, "So, what else brings you to Paradise? You didn't have time to answer before Smokey interrupted us, and I forgot to ask on the walk here. It has to be important since I can't believe you'd want to be away from this Whitebeard guy for long if you want to try making him the Pirate King."

The others frowned at that, looking at the older brother closely, then at Luffy, but saw no irritation or anger there. Shrugging their shoulders, they instead simply listened as Sanji, his wounds now bandaged by Robin under Chopper's direction, came out with some food.

Ace thanked Sanji before taking a sip from his beer, wiping his mouth with his free hand. "That's good stuff. As for why I'm here, I'm after a former crewmate. His name's Blackbeard, and he committed the worst crime a pirate could while aboard ship: he murdered a fellow crewman in cold blood."

Everyone's eyes narrowed at that, but Luffy had the most negative reaction. His blue eyes darkened noticeably as a feeling of cold wafted off him. "That's inexcusable," he said. Even his voice sounded cold, almost emotionless.

Ace quickly reached over smacking Luffy upside the head. "No, no Soul of Ice for you!"

Luffy blinked, coming back to himself, then shook his head. "Erg, sorry."

"Meh, wasn't as bad as the first time you fell into it that first night after your period," Ace replied, chuckling. "Seriously, you traumatized everyone around you when that happened. **Twice!** "

Luffy pouted while Vivi and Nami looked at Luffy commiseratingly. "See it from this side of things, I dare you."

"No thank you," Ace retorted, his tone saying this was an old exchange between them. "And if I ever meet Ivankov I swear to god I'm going to burn him to ash."

"What **was** that?" Zoro asked, looking at his Captain intently, the first of the two men to recover from that sort of mind-breaking bombshell as he slotted it neatly into a mental folder marked 'never think of again.' "That felt…weird…"

Nearby Robin had backed away quickly, the first time she had moved from her comfortable position against the mainmast. The cold that Luffy had exhibited for a moment there had almost caused her to have flashbacks to her past when she had seen that bastard Aokiji killing Saul.

"It's a martial arts move, sort of based on a unique ability of haki I kind of invented," Luffy replied, prevaricating slightly. "It's not something I'm going to teach anyone, so don't even ask. It messes up your emotions something fierce, and I normally would never use it except in the direst of circumstances. But that, killing a friend, a nakama, that pissed me off so much I just automatically reached to it to help me control myself."

"Don't ask us how Luffy came up with it. No one can get that story out of him," Ace said with a laugh, leaning back as he gestured at Makino who nodded in agreement. "But yeah, that's why I'm in the area. The man I'm after, Blackbeard, he passed through here recently, though he made so little trouble it was hard to pick up his trail. I guess he didn't feel like trying his luck against Croc, though I don't know what his long term goals are. I've been behind Blackbeard most of the way. My attempt to try and cut off his trail backfired right off the bat, putting me on the back leg. But I've been gaining on the bastard since, so I should be able to catch up to him soon enough. Unless you need my help here? You said something about being here to fight Crocodile."

To everyone's surprise except for Zoro, Luffy shook his head quickly. "No. This is my journey. I don't need my big brother around to help me out when the going gets tough. Unless you've got a beef with Crocodile too, you can head out after Blackbeard now."

"I don't have to be on the trail that quickly," Ace said dryly. "We have time to catch up a bit. And while Croc tried to fight Whitebeard a few years ago, I don't particularly have a beef with him. Whitebeard beat him down by himself so fast it made the prick look like a baby trying to take on a giant."

"That reminds me!" Luffy said, throwing arm around his brother's shoulder and squeezing. "I want a Den-Den Mushi to talk to Whitebeard."

"Are you serious?!" Nami shouted, shaking her head. "He's one of the most powerful men in the world, one of the four Yonkou, and you're just talking about speaking to him like it's an everyday thing!"

"Why do you want to talk to Oyaji?" Ace asked, cutting everyone's response off quickly, not reacting to the orange-haired girl's words. They were true, after all, but also in keeping with Luffy's attitude. He didn't respect positions **at all.** Luffy respected people and wouldn't even do that until he met them in person.

"I want to thank him for taking you in, of course. You always…" Luffy paused in thought, thinking how to phrase it. "You've always acted as if…as if going out to sea and becoming a pirate was just something you had to do. Yes, it would be fun, but the fun wouldn't be the main reason you wanted to be a pirate, like it was a task or something you had been forced into, and that made you angry. Now, you look calmer, more relaxed. More at home in your own skin, I suppose, is the best way to put it."

Makino nodded agreement, having seen the same thing. "Even when I knew you, you were a little bundle of angry energy," she said dryly. "You're much more…centered now, I suppose."

Ace chuckled, wrapping an arm around Luffy's shoulders in turn and squeezing lightly before pushing the younger man hard enough to send him off the bench they were sitting on with a squawk of surprise. "I suppose what this one, you, and Sabo started, Whitebeard finished. He gave me a home, showed me that that he looked at his crew as family, and…"

He paused before going on, but before he could speak Luffy finished the words for him, grinning up at him from the deck. "That living your life isn't a crime. That you have a right to exist." The two brothers looked at one another, and Ace nodded slowly.

Only Luffy and Sabo knew that secret: the secret of who Ace's real father was, and they all wanted it to stay that way. The horrors the Marines and the World Government had inflicted in their attempt to wipe out the blood of Gol D. Roger: wiping out every child below a certain age, executing every pregnant woman on the island where he had been born, and the number of times his mother and he had been cursed as demon spawn. It had left a mark on Ace, but Sabo and Luffy, and then Makino and finally Whitebeard had slowly expunged the darkness from his soul.

Nearby, Robin's eyes widened in shocked understanding, her face for once showing complete honesty in the pain it conveyed. Thankfully for her, none of the rest of the crew was looking at her at that moment. This let Robin regain control of her features, pushing the memories of the time she had been cursed, called a demon child, and beaten or turned out into the streets back into the recesses of her mind.

"Yeah, that too," Ace replied. "But is that the only reason you want to talk to Whitebeard? Just a thank you? I don't think that's enough a reason to give you my only dedicated connection to Oyaji," Ace said, using the term everyone in Whitebeard's crew used for the mighty Yonkou.

"Nah, not just that," Luffy said with a laugh. "I also just want to talk to him. He's a freaking legend, after all, and that's not all I want to thank him for. Oh, and I want to tell him that I'll be the one to find One Piece."

Every other individual there stared at Luffy when he said that, the sheer balls of even thinking of saying that to Yonkou Whitebeard even over a Den-Den Mushi was beyond belief. Then Zoro began to laugh, and Ace joined along with Sanji a moment later. "Hah, that's my captain! If you didn't have the balls to do something like that I'd have to find another crew!" Zoro shouted between roars of laughter.

Looking at one another, the four women all rolled their eyes, not seeing the appeal of that at all. "Men!"

Luffy reached up, pulling Robin and Vivi down onto the deck to sit with him laughing. "It ain't that at all. It's just, if I'm afraid of shouting my dream for all to hear, even someone like Whitebeard, how the hell am I supposed to become the Pirate King at all?"

Robin rolled her eyes once more and might have made a cutting remark, but something in Luffy's eyes caught her attention, making her look away, her heart racing for some odd reason she could not define. It fell to Nami to attempt to remonstrate with Luffy on his bravado, but everyone could see it fell on deaf ears.

While Ace, Luffy, and Makino continued to talk for the rest of the day, and the crew got to know their captain's brother, they did have other tasks to perform throughout the day as the _Resolve_ continued on its course. The crewmen not on duty at the tiller or up in the sails took turns up front with sounding ropes, not having thought about finding a map to show the shorelines. Nami was with them or on the tiller, a small notepad in hand at times as she made notations, but for now it was somewhat smooth if slow going as they continued to skirt along the shoreline.

At the same time, Makino, Vivi, and Chopper worked on gathering and organizing supplies for a trip across the desert. Chopper had recovered somewhat, but wasn't much help in this, since all he knew about desert travel Vivi knew too, and far more intimately. Instead he helped in constructing hats for those who didn't already have them to keep the sun off, chatting with the camel, who received his own hat in turn.

Seeing that she wasn't needed for anything else, Robin retreated to her normal position on one of the lounge chairs and read quietly, only looking up whenever someone asked her a question or to lend them a hand, a phrase which took on a new, quite literal, meaning in her case. Despite this, she was somehow not surprised to find Ace sitting next to her when she looked up at one point later that evening while Luffy took a turn up front. Cocking an eyebrow at him inquisitively she asked, "Can I help you?"

"I know your name Nico Robin. I know a bit of your past too. Not why you were given that bounty, but I've heard how you betray pirates left and right, never giving anyone your true loyalties. I don't know why that is, and I don't care, but..." Ace leaned in close, glaring into her eyes. "If you betray my brother whatever the reason, I will find you and make you pay for it. Do you understand me?"

Robin looked back calmly even though she knew that there was scant little she could do against a logia type like Ace if he decided to attack her. If she had started to learn Busoshoku there was a possibility she could hurt him, but even then the idea of her defeating this man was rather laughable. Yet even so she wasn't going to back down. He wasn't the first pirate she had dealt with that could squash her like a bug, and he wouldn't be the last. "Your brother doesn't need you to protect him; indeed, I seem to recall him stating so earlier. As for my betraying him, while initially we were simply using one another in various ways, or at least I was using him, the idea of betraying him does not appeal to me now and will not in the future." _I wonder when that changed?_

Ace stared at her, then for some reason chuckled, leaning out of his threatening pose. "I wasn't talking about physical betrayal, but I suppose I'll leave it for now."

Robin looked at him quizzically at that, but Ace stood up and left without elaborating. He had seen the glances the two of them had shot at one another when one or the other wasn't looking and found it interesting that Luffy was seemingly attracted to an older woman like Robin rather than someone like Nami. Oh, Ace could tell he found Nami attractive too, but that looked to Ace more like a purely physical thing rather than a real emotional attraction.

 _Still,_ he thought to himself as he looked from Robin to Nami and then to the Princess, _he does have good taste in women, and he got two of them to join his crew too._ Ace's mind resolutely refused to notice that Makino was attractive too, especially since she had not changed out of her dancer's outfit, much to the delight of Sanji. _Not like mine. Mine was a freaking sausage fest!_ For some reason Ace found that thought rather depressing at the moment, and a cloud began to appear around him as he leaned against the railing, watching his brother's nakama go about their business.

That evening the ship dropped anchor some ways away from the shoreline as the crew threw a small, impromptu party to celebrate both their arriving at Alabasata and meeting Ace. Sanji brought out the food, and the group caroused for a time. The animals too took part, even the new camel, though that pissed Zoro off to no end.

Zoro and Ace had entered into a discussion on swordsmen that Ace had personally met while sharing copious amounts of the ship's sake. Zoro set his stein down for a moment, nodding intently as Ace described the appearance of one of his own nakama, only to turn around as he heard a loud slurping sound behind him and laughter from the rest of his crew. "What the hell!?"

The camel had moved over from where it had been tethered, actually having freed itself. It had moved across the deck silently, then dipped its long neck down to stick it's head into Zoro's stein, slurping the sake down in a long gulp.

"Damn you! You're mincemeat, camel!" Zoro shouted, reaching for his swords.

The camel looked unimpressed at first, instead spitting a big fat gob of slobber into Zoro's face. But as Zoro stood up angrily it backed away quickly, looking ready to bolt, but with nowhere to go.

Before Zoro could make good on his threat Nami moved between them the rest of the crew, even Robin, being too busy laughing to do so. "Now that's enoughZoro. He's only a silly animal." Placing a hand on the camel's chin, Nami went on, ignoring the angry shout of "Oy!" this brought from Chopper. "He was probably just thirsty. Besides, we'll need him when we cross the desert. You'll be a good camel and carry me and Vivi, won't you?"

Its eyes having turned into hearts, the camel nodded its head quickly at that, nuzzling into Nami's chest. "Good boy!" she coooed. "Now, what shall we call you, hmmm?"

"Ero-camel," Luffy, Zoro, Ace, and Sanji all said as one, while the others laughed.

"How about Eyelashes?" Nami said, to which the camel nodded. Judging by its slack-jawed expression and heart-shaped eyes though, it probably would have agreed to any name Nami chose.

"Okay, that's even weirder. I vote Nami is no longer allowed to choose names for anything. All in agreement, say aye?" Luffy said, raising his arm in the air.

"Aye!" everyone else shouted much to Nami's visible annoyance.

Laughing, Ace leaned back, taking it all in. The crew was much smaller than the one he was used to, but there was an atmosphere that Ace had only seen in a few pirate crews, most notably Whitebeard's. "I'm glad my brother found such a good group of nakama to sail these seas with him," he said, pulling everyone's attention to him. "I hope that you will continue to look after him for me."

As everyone else nodded, Luffy hurled himself on his brother roaring, "Oy, I am not some pet that needs looking after, you bastard aniki!"

As the rest of the crew watched laughing, the brothers continued to wrestle on the deck for some time, only being pulled apart by Makino. She waded into the conflict with a practiced air, pulling them apart with grips on their ears that could not be denied.

Later that night as the party died down and the rest of the crew went to sleep, Ace and Luffy moved over to the railing talking quietly for a time. "I want you to have this, Luffy," Ace said, pulling out what to Luffy's eyes looked like a normal piece of paper. It was a small scrap torn off another larger piece of paper, but Ace gave it to Luffy as if it was something precious. "Keep it with you, and you'll always be able to find me if you need to."

Luffy looked at the paper quizzically, but nodded, pulling off his straw hat, intending to stick the paper behind the red ribbon around the dome of the hat. Since his hat was always either on his head, one of his crew's heads, or in his ki space, that was easily the safest place Luffy could think of. "What is it?"

"A vivre card." Ace explained. "Don't ask me how it works, but that bit of paper is somehow connected to me. It'll act like an Eternal Pose always pointing in my direction wherever we are. Mind you, that'll just give you the direction, not the distance, but it's better than nothing, and in the Grand Line that's about all you can ask for."

"Huh, interesting. I might want to get some of these for me and the crew just in case we ever get separated. You think I could get some of this paper made in Alabasta?" Luffy asked intently, staring at the scrap of parchment.

"I doubt it. I had that one made in the New World," Ace said, before clapping his hands on his brother's shoulder, shaking him lightly. "It was good to see you and to meet your crew. I'm not going to ask you to stay safe, but…have fun, yeah?"

Luffy grinned, smacking his fist against Ace's. "You too. I'll see you in the New World!"

Ace laughed and nodded, then stood back, pulling out a strange looking surfboard kind of contraption from his own ki space. Ace had never used it to the extent that Makino or Luffy did, but he did have a few knickknacks in there, including this, a single-person ship designed to run on his Mera-Mera power.

Hurling it over the side, Ace followed it, landing on it in a standing stance, fire flickering out of his ankles and feet into two turbines. With a final wave back to his brother, Ace rocketed off into the night time sea.

 **OOOOOOO**

Staring around the table at the faces of his numbered agents, Crocodile was pleased that they understood the severity of the price of failure and the stakes they were playing for here. He waited until they finished reading their orders, then spoke again. "I hope now you all understand the roles you will play. There is, however, another matter we need to discuss: that of betrayal. Ms. All-Sunday has betrayed us. She has sided with a rookie pirate crew, believing that they will be strong enough to defeat us. I do not know why she has done so, or what could cause her to believe that, but she is still important to our long-term goals."

That was a lie of course. He knew some of the reasons why Robin had betrayed him, though he had not been concerned until his army of Millions had been so decisively dealt with though the how of it was still a mystery. Still, he was confident that he could deal with her and this Monkey D. Luffy given time. "Her inclusion into the Straw Hat crew, however, makes them more predictable, hence your orders. Mr. 1, Ms. Doublefinger, keep in mind I need her alive to help me decipher the plans for Pluton; alive, able to think and speak. Other than that, if you see an opportunity to…constrain her…do so."

Ms. Christmas Day smacked the table in front of her, "I, I understand, understood it is understood, clear, concise, but why, why is this one, this, this thing in charge!" she said, pointing at Mr. 2, who hissed and made to stand up and twirl in anger.

"Enough!" Crocodile said sharply before the rather disturbing man in the ballerina outfit could do so. While Mr. 2 was arguably the second most important of his assets, or even number one given Nico Robin's betrayal, his mode of dress still disturbed Crocodile, and he had no desire to see it put further on display through the man's normal antics. "Mr. 2 is in charge because he has more experience leading our Billions than you two and because his combat ability is higher as well. I'll have no arguments on this matter."

The elderly, oddly grandmother-looking individual that was Ms. Christmas Day subsided, as her partner, a massive, fat bear of a man shivered beside her as Crocodile's eyes moved over the two of them. Even Ms. Doublefinger and Mr. 1 felt the fear Crocodile evoked at that moment, and Mr. 2 wilted in his seat.

"Good," Crocodile said simply.

"Sir, you realize that capturing Robin alive and able to speak will be difficult. My partner and I do not specialize in such missions, but assassination," Mr. 1 said respectfully after a moment.

"That is why your orders say that your primary task will be to deal with the rest of this pirate crew. I will deal with the foolish captain myself." Crocodile allowed a faint smile to appear on his face for a second as he went on. "There are proprieties among even pirates to be observed."

That wasn't the real reason, though there were unwritten rules among pirates that stated that captains should fight captains if at all possible. But Crocodile would have ignored such a rule if he could. Yet the skills he knew this Luffy had shown demanded that Crocodile take him on personally.

"Mr. 2, I want you on the road within the hour," Crocodile went on, changing the subject as he let his eyes flick over to the other man, expertly hiding the shudder that seeing a man in a tutu evoked in him.

Mr. 2 nodded quickly. "Of course! I'll speed un, deux, trois on my way at once! I just hope these two don't hold me up too long."

"I say bah, bah, bah!" said the old woman, again slapping her hands down on the table. "It is you who will try, try, but not succeed in keeping up with us!"

"Don't even joke~~~!" Mr. 2 shouted, already getting to his feet and hurtling towards the door.

Behind him Ms. Christmas Day hustled her partner out as quickly as she could, actually pushing at his large bulk to get him moving, while Crocodile leaned back in his chair, turning it around once more to stare at the glass aquarium behind his chair. The other two agents understood this to mean they were dismissed, and stood up quickly exiting the room.

With them gone Crocodile closed his eyes as he smoked on his cigar, thinking hard. The Royal Army was no threat. Even their best fighters could not stand against even Mr. 4, let alone any of his other agents, and their numbers were no threat to Crocodile anywhere in Alabasta.

 _And with Mr. 2's special ability, Cobra's public persona will be damaged beyond repair soon enough, the king himself in my hands. Yes, I can leave all that in Mr. 2's capable hands, and even if he fails I have pawns in place to turn events in the capital to my favor regardless. This pirate crew, however: the use of Busoshoku concerns me. Rookie he may be, but that ability makes him dangerous, as does the fact I have no idea how they dealt with my naval forces. Perhaps I should stack the deck a little further in my favor…_

 **OOOOOOO**

 _Resolve_ put its anchor down twice after Ace left. Once was to send off Carue, at which time they met up with a group of animals called fighting dugongs. They were extremely cute animals, looking like a mix between man, turtle, and otter. They all posed like strongmen in a gym while their leader pointed angrily at the ship.

"What's wrong with these guys?" Luffy asked, looking over Chopper. "Translation, please?"

Chopper quickly explained, hopping down to stand next to the leader as he spoke, once more twisting his snout in such a way as to sound like what he thought the animal he was translating for did. "We are the fighting dugong! This is our shoreline! If you want to put ashore here, you'll have to fight us or give us tribute. If you can't do either of those things then get out of here, weaklings!"

"Oh ho, weaklings, is it? Possible ingredients want to talk to us like that?" Sanji muttered, leaping over the side as Luffy did the same. Zoro, however, simply shook his head, closing his eyes again for another nap. None of the dugongs had weapons after all.

Nami shook her head sadly looking down at the crowd of cute little creatures. "They look so cute, though. How can such little creatures be tough?"

Vivi looked up from where she had been tying the message to Carue's neck, racing to the side quickly as a thought occurred to her. "Wait! Don't fight them! They…"

She was too late. Sanji had beaten three of the fighting dugongs, while Luffy had defeated seven by the time she got there. Luffy looked up at her quizzically. "I know they're cute and all Vivi, but they told us to try and fight them. So what's the problem?"

"Because they're fighting dugongs!" Vivi groaned, shaking her head. "Yes, they challenge people, but if someone proves tougher than they are, they…" she paused, as below her the creatures woke up.

As one the group that had been defeated by Luffy and Sanji got together, their little paws placed in front of them as they bowed formally to the two humans. Both of them bowed back, looking a little quizzical then up at Vivi again, who groaned and finished what she had been about to say. "They decide that you are their new master and want to follow you as disciples."

"Tell us this stuff sooner, please, Vivi-chwan?" Sanji said, crooning the words even as he looked at the group of animals rather askance.

Luffy, on the other hand, laughed. "Well, we could set them to work on the cannons…"

A hand smacked his head as a tangerine rind smacked into his face. "Don't you dare think about using such cute creatures like that, Luffy!" Nami shouted while Makino roared the words in his ear.

Luffy rolled his eyes, but nodded agreement before hurling the tangerine rind back with unerring accuracy, the rind smacking into Nam's chest right between her breasts. As she growled in outrage he began to teach the group of animals a bit of martial arts training and set them to it before turning back to the ship, which seemed to be enough for the dugongs. After that Carue was set ashore with some water to see him over the desert, and the ship pulled up anchor once more.

The next day as morning broke the _Resolve_ slowly sailed up a small inlet. It was shallow here but Vivi and Robin both explained that it would open up further later on. The schooner would still be a tight fit, but if they were careful they could hide the ship further up the river, and there was no way any heavier ship could follow. With Luffy and Zoro punting the ship along it was slow going, but they still covered far more ground than any group simply marching on land could have, and in the early evening they tied the ship up near the source of the river, an underground water channel of some kind.

With the ship stopped, the crew gathered to go over their plans in more detail.

"Rain Dinners is almost in the direct center of the island." Crouching on the deck, Robin set out a map of the island, the sight of which caused Nami to keep making a tsking noise under her breath. Robin looked up at the noise and noticed the younger girl's face, then playfully pushed her leg. "Not everyone who makes maps has as high a standard as you do, navigator-chan."

"That's why she's **my** navigator!" Luffy said with a laugh, gesturing to the map. "Anything you can think to add to this Nami?"

Nami puffed herself up, then retraced their course briefly, going into what the number of tributaries they had seen meant, and then gesturing to the map that Robin and pulled out. "This one river though is the most important to the island as a whole. It'd be heavily traveled, and I'd bet that this Rain Dinners place is right beside it?"

"Close enough," Robin said with a nod, gesturing to a strange crocodile looking creature set above a tiny dot on the map. "That is Rain Dinners there. We could have indeed taken the river nearly to the town, but that would've been too obvious and possibly guarded. Besides," she gestured down river to another dot touching it lightly.

Luffy looked closer, and noticed a small 'M' mark there. "Marines?"

"There is a base here and at the river's mouth," Robin replied, tapping the mark of a large city there with a nod. "The one at the river's mouth is relatively new, hence why it's not marked on the map. This one was built before the current troubles as a local Marine base and general communication hub with the World Government. Crocodile has suborned many of the people there, but since we spotted Commodore Smoker and Captain Hina their neutrality in regards to us and Crocodile cannot be assumed. He is, after all, a Shichibukai. In any conflict between our crew and his they would naturally take his side."

"So we have to go cross country," Luffy said with a nod. "In that case, let's hide the ship as best we can, then maybe make it look as if it's wrecked, just in case?"

"Are we leaving anyone behind?" Nami asked anxiously. "We have a lot of gold aboard, after all."

Luffy shook his head. "No, we'll take everyone with us except for Banchi." He looked over at the turtle. "Will he be all right if we leave him in the waters here?"

"I will be fine," the elderly turtle answered via Chopper. "Indeed, I can help guard your ship from other animal threats, though not so much from people. I'm sorry I can't be more help, but while I can handle the desert just fine, I'm not exactly speedy."

"In that case, why don't we just toss the gold over the side?" Zoro suggested. "We can retrieve it later, but the gold won't tarnish in the water that fast, and if we make the bags heavy enough the stream won't be able to move them."

"That works," Luffy agreed over Nami's protest. She agreed that it was a smart move, but the very idea of tossing gold over the side of the ship almost made her sick to her stomach. "Sanji, Zoro; you and I will work on that. Ladies, if you could finish packing up the supplies I think we should get going in about an hour."

Nami led Eyelashes down the plank, smiling over at Sanji. "I'm glad you bought this camel. It's definitely going to come in handy now."

Shaking his head, Luffy chuckled. "Maybe I should let you walk and have the camel carry everything instead, Miss rind-thrower."

Without even looking in Luffy's direction Nami gave him the finger while Sanji turned angrily, launching a kick his way which Luffy adroitly dodged. "Shitty captain, how dare you think of making such frail lovely flowers as the ladies of our crew trek over such harsh terrain!"

"I still want to turn that damn camel into cutlets. No one steals my sake," Zoro muttered, glaring at the camel.

The camel glared right back until Nami touched his chin lightly, and it turned its now love-struck expression towards her. "There, there, don't worry. The bad swordsman won't touch you so long as you let us ladies ride, right?"

The camel nodded its head quickly, actually kneeling down so Nami and Vivi could get on board easily, its eyes even larger hearts now.

Luffy sighed, shaking his head as he looked at the strange camel. "You want to bring it along, you get to take care of it, girls. The rest of us will be busy carrying the food and other supplies. Remember what Vivi said, though: every hour on the hour you need to drink water, regardless of if you feel thirsty or not. For now, let's get moving. I want to be away from the river by the time the sun goes down, and then we'll push on for at least a few hours more before resting.

He had toyed with the idea of only traveling at night, but both Vivi and Robin said that traveling at night was more dangerous than traveling during the day in the desert because most of the predators came out at night. While these predators were not really a threat to anyone in the crew, dealing with them would slow the crew down. They were also under a time limit, and camping out during the day would slow them down to a level they would not be able to make up traveling only at night.

Almost immediately it was clear that Chopper would be no use whatsoever during the day. Without even the breeze coming from the ocean Chopper truly began to suffer, unable to even move, his entire body just a big, sweaty ball of fur. After watching the little guy still try to keep up for about an hour, Luffy simply tied him to his back and carried on. Thanks to his training, he and Zoro were not feeling the heat nearly as much as the others, though Vivi and Robin, having lived here all their lives and for a few years respectively, were dealing with it better than even the two of them.

It was near evening and the heat of the day was slowly dissipating when they first ran into their first obstacle. In the lead by several hundred feet, Luffy had seen a series of large boulders, spotting them in the distance and deciding to make them their target for the day. The crew was looking forward to taking a break, when to one side of their current path a large dust cloud appeared over the horizon. Vivi spotted it first, her face paling noticeably. "It's a sandstorm! **Run**! Get to those rocks quickly!"

Luffy looked in the same direction then chanced a glance in Robin's direction. At the same time he reached over to pull Vivi off of the camel, carrying her in a princess carry as he rushed forward. Sanji did the same to Robin, who he was standing nearby, and Zoro kicked off the ground, shouting at the camel to run as Makino did the same. The camel, realizing the urgency, needed no second urging, and the group raced forward with Nami now clinging to the back of the camel. "Could this be from Crocodile?"

"No," Robin said quickly, shouting to be heard over the speed of their passage as Sanji fought to keep his attention on keeping the two of them in the air rather than staring down at Robin 'lovingly.' "Or if it is, it isn't targeted. While Crocodile can always use the sand around him, his ability to use it further from his body than he can personally see is limited. He could have started this storm, but he couldn't aim it this far away."

"So it might be him, but he won't be able to use it to pin us in place," Luffy nodded. "All right, we can work with that."

They took shelter for the rest of that evening and well into the night among the rocks Luffy had spotted. Around them the sandstorm raged past their position, the crew having just barely gotten undercover before it hit the rocks.

That night as the sandstorm died out, they pushed on despite the camel's reluctance to do so, the two girls getting off its back and leading it now, shivering in the night. Chopper, on the other hand, actually changed into his larger muscled form, laughing and throwing his hands up in the air. "Now this is more like it!"

"Good," Luffy said, slapping a hand to his shoulder. "In that case, you take point. I'll be tail end Charlie."

"Tail end Charlie?" Robin asked, cocking her head quizzically.

"I have no idea where the phrase came from. It's just an strange name for the last person in a column as you're making your way through dangerous or enemy territory," Luffy said with a laugh, unsurprised that Robin had questioned him on that.

With Chopper now in the lead they moved through the desert like this for a few hours before coming upon another small rocky outcropping. It wasn't much, simply a single stone jutting out of the desert, but it was tall enough to give them some shelter from the wind and served as a lookout post for whoever was on watch.

It was well that they had, because as Vivi and Robin had predicted they were attacked several times during the night, multiple times by snakes, and once by a giant scorpion thing just as the sky began to brighten. Zoro dealt with the snakes, and Sanji dealt with the scorpion easily enough, however.

Pushing her way out of the tent she shared with Nami, Vivi spotted the giant scorpion's corpse and gasped, looking around hurriedly. "Ah, that's a giant scorpion. Watch out; they always…travel in packs…"

As she was speaking two more scorpions pushed out of the sand to either side of their camp, somehow having moved under the sand until they were in perfect position to ambush their prey. Before they could do so, however, Luffy and Zoro struck, a punch from Luffy removing one scorpion's face while Zoro sliced the other up into several bloody chunks.

Turning from the collapsing corpse of the large scorpion, Luffy looked at Vivi, his face so deadpan she flushed and looked away. "Tell us this stuff sooner," Luffy drawled, deliberately repeating his words from when they met the Fighting dugongs.

The second day was much like the first, all of them suffering somewhat under the oppressive heat, but helped along by their water supplies and prior planning. However, at midday they once again saw a sandstorm in the distance, only this time there was no outcropping of rock nearby.

Luffy glared at this upcoming sandstorm, then at the surrounding area, before leaping into the air, bouncing higher and higher up into the air to give himself a better view of the land around them. "Get ready to move on my signal."

Below him Robin sighed, scowling as she looked at the incoming storm front. "I think we can assume that these sandstorms are indeed being sent our way by Crocodile at this point. He might not have our exact location, but someone must have seen us exiting the port and followed us somehow."

"…That's kind of terrifying, someone sending out actual sandstorms to destroy their enemies," Nami said, shivering as she stared at the oncoming storm. She estimated they had maybe twenty minutes or so until it was on them. It was moving slowly, but once it hit them there would be no protection.

Luffy dropped like a stone, landing to one side of the crew with a thump that could be felt through their feet, such was his urgency. "All right, I see another outcropping of rock to our east. Those of you can use Geppo, grab those who can't!"

A second later Robin found herself suddenly being carried, this time by Zoro who hopped into the air, carrying Chopper on his head for some reason. Sanji grabbed up Vivi from the camel's back, and Nami found herself on Luffy's back as he pulled Makino up into his arms, the green haired woman scrunching her eye shut for some reason. "Wait! The camel!"

Luffy looked at the camel, then groaned and pointed in the direction they were going. "We're going that way! If you think you can keep up, do it, but if not, you're going to have to let one of us guys carry you!"

The animal looked between the distance, the rocks Luffy had spotted out of sight from their current position, and the oncoming storm, which definitely was within sight. A bare second later it was gone, a dust cloud being kicked up by its flailing hooves.

"Well, that answers that question," Luffy quipped, leaping into the air with Nami in her on his back as they raced off. He blushed slightly as Nami's hand tightened around his chest, her breasts pressing into his back, the feel of her legs wrapping around his waist from behind almost making him lose control of his Geppo.

But he fought through it and raced on through the air, feeling his reserves drain away. Keeping in the air like this took it out of people about four or five times worse than just walking in the same conditions would have, hence why they hadn't been using it. This was made worse by the need to carry the others in their party.

That second sandstorm raged throughout the day and into the evening, and when they exited from their makeshift shelter, Robin and Vivi spent some time trying to figure out their position by the stars before heading to bed. After they all woke up and had a good breakfast the next morning, Robin explained their findings. "We're off course, but we, that is, Vivi and I, think we can still make for Rain Dinners relatively easily. But every time we are heading in a straight line for any sense of time we run the risk of running into further delays."

"We're just going to have to chance it," Luffy said, sighing. "At this range there's nothing else we can do, and if Croc's trying to keep us away this much, I bet he's pushing through some plan or other. So the faster we can get there, the better."

"I vote we keep on using Geppo for as long as possible every night," Sanji said, smoking his cigarette. since his style was based off his legs Sanji could deal with the effort of using Geppo better than any of the others save Luffy. "We need to make up lost time, and we are better able to do it at night."

Luffy nodded, and the group set off. About halfway through that third day out from the _Resolve_ , Luffy was once more in the lead, hopping up into the air occasionally for a better vantage point in order to see ahead of them and spot any incoming sandstorms, just in case.

At one point when doing so he held up his hands, shielding his eyes as he swept the horizon, frowning as he spotted something to the left, a hazy outline barely visible from his current vantage point. "I think I can see an outcropping of rocks we can use for shelter if we need to. You all keep going on this route. I'm going to head out to see if it's usable. Zoro, send up a Tatsumaki every few minutes so I know where you are."

As the others trudged wearily on, Luffy kicked his way up into the air again, racing quickly in the direction where he had seen the rocky outcropping. When he landed, he quickly pulled out his water bottle and took a swig of at least two hours' worth of the water in one go. Air walking during the day was absolutely crazy for any extended time.

Looking at the rock, he frowned slightly. Some of it looked worked, almost. Moving forward towards it, he sank almost immediately into the sand directly below the outcropping he had noticed, which formed a bit of an arch there. Kicking out of the sand was tough, but Luffy did so, grabbing onto the rock right above him and hanging there like a bat for a moment, his hat slipping off his head to be grabbed by his other hand as he stared at the sand, which swirled beneath him, some of it sinking now visibly, as if there was some pocket of space or something below it. "Weird."

Luffy experimented, moving around the outcropping of rock for a few minutes, and found that only that one spot was unstable. Making a mental note of the rock, he rejoined the rest of his crew quickly thanks to Zoro's air attacks shooting up as a visible trail. Landing down in front of them, his knees bent easily under his weight even as he once more took a long draft of water from his bottle. "I found some rocks we could use for cover if we have to, but I'll warn you all now there is a spot there that has something like quicksand. Funny thing is, it's right below what I could swear was some sort of an artificial arch in the rock."

"What?" Robin asked quickly, moving towards him. "Artificial rock? You mean a ruin?"

Luffy looked at her quizzically then shook his head apologetically. "Ah, right. Sorry, yeah, it looks as if the arch was from some larger building that collapsed maybe? Or maybe a rooftop. The rock itself looks kind of like concrete, if you know what I mean? Do you want to go look?"

"Yes, please. Take me to it, Captain-san," Robin said, stepping forward.

Luffy looked over at Zoro, who nodded. The swordsman was actually grateful for a bit of reprieve from simply slogging on as they had been, the arm exercise breaking the monotony. Luffy turned back to Robin and nodded at her. "Okay, let's go then. We'll see you guys in a bit."

He turned and knelt down, presenting his back to Robin then flushed hotly as she stepped forward, putting her feet into his back-cupped hands as if they were stirrups. Robin was quite a bit taller than Nami, and rather than pressing her breasts into Luffy's back, this position pressed them into the back of and to either side of his head. "Are, um, are you…comfortable?" he asked hesitantly, flushing to his ear tips at the sensation. For some reason this felt more intimate than when Nami's chest had pressed not his back.

"Quite comfortable," Robin said with a chuckle, realizing what his problem was and enjoying making the self-possessed young man become flustered.

Hesitantly, Luffy leaped into the air, blushing even hotter as this motion caused certain bits that were now pressing into the back of his head to move with the motion. Seeing this Robin chuckled throatily, her arms tightening around his shoulders as her legs did his sides. "Ara, are you all right, Cap~tain~san?" she whispered into his ear, giving her nickname for him a very sexy tone somehow.

Luffy nearly lost control of his Geppo for a second, actually coming down to a bare few feet off the desert floor before hopping higher into the sky. "J-just peachy!" he growled, his voice quite strained, but he refused to show any further sign that Robin was getting to him, ordering certain parts of his body to return to the at rest position. He heard Robin chuckle again but the older woman halted her game, for now anyway.

Lighting down onto the rock he had found, Luffy let Robin down to stand on her own feet. When Robin made to move forward however, he grabbed her hand, squeezing it once to stop her. "Wait. I told you, it's got some kind of quicksand or sinkhole right underneath it."

Nodding her head, but still looking intently at the rock, Robin closed her eyes and crossed her hands over her chest. Luffy knew that meant she was using her power in a way that demanded more concentration. And true enough, as he watched several hands appeared jutting out from the rock, followed quickly by eyes appearing on the palms of those hands.

The hands quickly began moving this way and that as she directed them to look at the rock from all angles. She spent an inordinate amount of time looking at the base of the rock, then, as Luffy watched, the original limbs disappeared. In their places several dozen arms formed one after another, each arm growing out of the palm of the last hand to make a rope of arms which dipped down into the sand at the base.

After a moment, the hands all disappeared, and Robin opened her eyes with a smile. "There is a bottom to that quicksand, as you put it, which lets out into some kind of large cavern underneath the desert."

Luffy looked at her in surprise. "Then what's keeping the sand up?"

Robin shook her head. "Ah, I apologize. I didn't explain it correctly. There is a bottom to the sand underneath that morass but it's made of wooden slats left over from something or other, which lets in a trickle and allows for that movement you noticed. One of my conjured hands knocked on it, so I know it was wood. Do you think you could break through it?"

"So long as it isn't so deep that I run out of breath," Luffy quipped, though he was somewhat serious. No matter how strong someone was, they needed leverage to move, and while Luffy could get around this slightly, even he could drown or be buried alive if he was careless.

"You shouldn't, and if I connect my arms to you I can pull you out," Robin promised, looking at Luffy closely, wondering if he would trust her to that extent.

To her carefully hidden surprise Luffy simply nodded agreement, showing no qualms about doing so. Rather than voice her astonished appreciation of that fact, Robin once again gestured and a series of hands appeared from the rock, holding their palms out to Luffy. He leaped forward, grabbing onto them as he slowly sank into the quicksand.

He let loose an involuntary growl as he felt the quicksand pressing into him, but a second later, just as Robin had predicted, his feet landed on what did indeed feel like wood. A quick stump shattered it, dumping the sand and Luffy down into the cavern.

A moment later Luffy stood with the sand still falling all around him in what was indeed a large underground cavern. He shouted up to Robin. "There is a cave down here for sure! In fact, it looks entirely man-made down here. Your instincts were right!"

"Thank you," Robin said quickly, a tone of eager delight in her voice that Luffy hadn't heard before. "And now catch me!" Without further ado she hopped down the hole giving Luffy a bare second to hold his arms out in order to catch her.

"What would you've done if I didn't catch you?" Luffy asked.

"Created hundreds of hands to do the job, of course," Robin replied with a chuckle, wiggling out of his hands quickly and moving towards the walls, calling over her shoulder as she went. "I'm a practical sort of woman."

"So I see," Luffy said with a laugh, moving after her. "Do you need a light?"

"If you could make one, yes, please," Robin said almost absentmindedly as she began to read what she could in the dim light coming in from the hole in the ceiling they had made. The cavern stretched to the right of that hole for some distance, and the light didn't travel very far unfortunately.

In reply Luffy quickly created a makeshift torch using a spare tunic he had in his hidden weapons space and, ironically enough, the jutte that he had taken from Smoker. Robin took a brief glance at that weapon and laughed before turning back to her work.

Luffy simply followed her for a time, looking at the images she was looking at as he tried to figure out their meaning. Most of it was writing, but here and there was a picture, and eventually Luffy saw a pattern in them. "War? I mean, there was a war at some point? These images, they're of fights, aren't they?"

Robin nodded. "This is, this is an amazing find," she said, the first words she had said in over forty minutes of exploration. "I've lived in this country for years, and I didn't know this existed! It isn't what I'm seeking, but it is an interesting discovery nonetheless. Unfortunately," she said with a chuckle, pointing at some of the writing, "These aren't actually historical documents. This is more the equivalent of graffiti. Eloquent graffiti for the most part, but still not something someone wrote down for future generations."

"So does it tell you anything new?" Luffy asked.

"Quite a bit, actually, once you get through the normal graffiti nature of it. These are musings of soldiers for the most part; as you said, all of this was written during a war. But some of it actually gives me dates, which is important. You see, all of this was written during the Void Century!"

Luffy nodded thoughtfully, looking at the drawings with new interest. He knew what the Void Century was and had before Robin mentioned it as part of being part of her dream to find the poneglyphs.

But before he could say anything Robin went on. "It also says some extremely interesting things about the history of this country. For example, this country did not used to be dominated by a desert. In fact, from what I'm reading here, it was a relatively normal summer country at one point. This writing here," she says, gesturing to a scribble that Luffy hadn't thought was actual writing, "says it was hit by some kind of cataclysm. I can't detect anything that says the cataclysm was part of the war, say part of the Pluton weapon Crocodile is after being fired. It looks as if it was simply a natural disaster. I had always wondered about the nature of the rock that can be found in the desert here and the fact it didn't quite match the composition of the sand, but I never suspected that."

"Does give any hint to the location of what you're looking for?" Luffy asked.

"It mentions a capital city, and judging from the way it's spoken of as being high up above the rest of the ground, it is possibly talking about Alubarna. That gives me some hope that we'll be able to find it there, despite my not knowing exactly where it is hidden."

Robin looked at Luffy as she finished speaking. He had given his word to help her, but neither of them had any real idea of how difficult it would be to discover where the poneglyph was hidden. And Robin decided now to broach one way she knew that they could discover that. Glancing at Luffy then away, she said tentatively, "We could, we might have to eventually simply force King Cobra to tell us where it is. That is the most certain method, and I know that the king will also be necessary to gain access to wherever the poneglyph is hidden. Crocodile had plans for him to be kidnapped at some point during the final battle between the two factions."

"Or…we could just ask," Luffy said, his words a drawl. "Let's face facts; the king's gonna owe us big time after we kick Croc's ass for him, and unlike with Vivi I don't mind squeezing her old man for whatever we decide he owes us for saving his country via kicking a Shichibukai's ass. If he doesn't agree, then we'll have time to consider other options." Luffy laughed. "I actually haven't done anything really piratey since leaving East Blue, so maybe kidnapping a king would be a good way to add to my infamy."

"I don't think piratey' is a word, but I take your meaning," Robin laughed, shaking her head as she turned back to her work. Yet though that sounded like a joke, she could somehow tell Luffy was serious.

His next words only helped to confirm that. "Don't worry. Now that you're part of my crew I'll do everything I can do to help you achieve your dream. If Cobra refuses to help us, making him do so in any way short of torture is well within the bounds of that."

Again Robin chuckled, thanking him before turning all of her attention to the wall in front of her.

"I'm sorry I couldn't help you more in there," Luffy said several hours later, leaping up into the air out of the hole with ease with Robin this time in his arms rather than on his back. Even so it was still somewhat troubling to carry her like this. Robin was a woman, and she was currently wearing shorts, unlike Nami who wore those dancer's silk pants. The softness of her flesh under his hands and the way her breasts moved against his chest were rather distracting.

"I knew going in back there that I wouldn't find anything that would address my primary dream, Captain-san. Don't worry about it," Robin soothed, patting his back with one hand while she held onto his shoulder with the other. "But just because it doesn't help me towards that goal doesn't mean that it wasn't fascinating."

Finding his crew once more thanks to Zoro's signals, Luffy set Robin down next to the others, discovering that they had already begun to put together dinner.

"Did you find anything interesting?" Makino asked.

"Very interesting, yes," Robin said, her voice infected with the excited tone it had had since Luffy had told her about his find rather than her normally controlled, laid back drawl. "It was most fascinating. I'm going to write it down in my journal in a moment. Nothing entirely groundbreaking, but it was certainly an exhilarating find."

Robin turned back to Luffy, then leaned forward, quickly kissing him on the cheek before moving off. "Thank you for your help, Captain-san."

Behind her Luffy blushed again almost as badly as he had while carrying the older woman on his back. He shook his head quickly before moving over towards the food even as Sanji began to angrily shout at him for attempting to monopolize Robin.

To one side Nami watched Robin walk to her pack, then slid her eyes towards Luffy. As she did, a frown appeared on her face for no reason she could understand before she turned back to her own meal.

 **OOOOOOO**

"So, now we know who is really behind all this!" Cobra said, hurling the message from his daughter down onto the table separating him from Pell and Chaka. "Now we know who our **real** enemy is!"

"I agree we need to act on this, but can we afford to do so right now? The rebel army is already on the march. For certain unless Vivi meets with their leader, there is no one else we can send that they will believe," Chaka cautioned. "They could ransack this castle and the capital city when our back is turned. Worse, we only have your daughter's word for what is going on. There will be a lot of questions if we attack a Shichibukai."

Cobra stood up quickly, slamming his hands down. "Who cares about this castle!?" As his two chief bodyguards and military commanders jolted at the noise Cobra went on, his tone soft but intense. "What is important in a country? The trappings of power, the castle, the capital, the king? No, it is peace and the people. If the cost of moving against the real enemy behind this conspiracy, of bringing true peace to Alabasta, is the destruction of this castle, I will blow it up myself!"

He leaned back as both Chaka and Pell looked at him before bowing their heads in silent assent, and Cobra went on. "Nonetheless, you raise a point. We can't move the entire army after Crocodile without some more justification than this. However, Vivi says in this missive that these pirates she has allied with are already moving against him. We can it use that as an excuse; move the army in to try to quell the violence going on between Crocodile and this group in and around Rain Dinners, and then look for further proof on the sly. I want the army ready to go by tomorrow morning. For now Pell, you will go ahead to meet these pirates at their target. The rest of the army and I will follow you."

As the two guards made to leave, Cobra stopped Pell with a gentle hand on his shoulder. "I know I don't have to say this, Pell, but while your stated mission will be to aid these pirates, your primary mission will be to protect my daughter. If it looks as if this Straw Hat crew is becoming overwhelmed by Crocodile, you are to escape with her back to the palace."

"Of course, Majesty," Pell said with a deep bow. "I would give my life in her defense if need be."

"I don't want you to give your life, I want you to protect Vivi's with it!" Cobra quipped, pulling a chuckle from the ever serious Pell, before he gestured Pell once more at the door.

With his guards gone, Cobra sat for a time staring into nothing before he stood up resolutely and followed his two men out the door. He nearly bumped into a maid in the hall beyond, apologizing quickly but almost absentmindedly as he was in a bit of a hurry.

He never even saw the blow coming which knocked him unconscious. The maid stood up, slapping her own face for a moment, said face transforming into that of Mr. Two, his now male body filling out the rather fetching maid outfit in a way that would've sent most straight men running. "Tie him up quickly, my babies! We have more mischief to prepare tonight! Un, duex, trois!"

 **End chapter**

Hope you all liked the action, the comedy and please tell me if you think the budding romance going on makes sense in terms of the characters.


	12. Chapter 12

Neither original universe is Vime's.

A warning: this chapter is heavily combat centered; should be obvious, but it has to be said. Also, just to make it clear, Raffy is not Luffy, and Crocodile has taken the Straw Hats somewhat seriously since the moment he heard of Raffy's Busoshoku and Robin defected. That is all.

This chapter has been betaed by _Michael_ , so there will not be nearly as many mistakes as there would otherwise have been. Most particularly he spotted several jarring errors which would probably have caused a lot of confusion and maybe ruined the reading of certain sections of the story. Please join me in thanking him for his work there. I would also like to thank Tomon, who pointed out that the final fight between Croc and Ranma was not up to my normal standards when i posted this chapter originally on Patty R on.

Oh, I also have Smoker and a few others start referring to Luffy as Mugiwara, like in the original here - think it sounds better than the translation, and more like an insult.

* * *

 **Chapter 12: Warlord vs. Warrior**

The day after Luffy and Robin had explored the ruins, the group came within sight of Rain Dinners via Geppo. Hopping nearly ten stories straight up from his crew, Luffy shouted that out, and Sanji quickly joined him, hopping up into the air to stand next to his captain. "You're getting better at that," Luffy said with a nod.

Sanji smirked, gesturing below them as his cigarette smoke blew away on an errant breeze. "Anything to get a leg up on the national treasure."

"Was that supposed to be a joke, Sanji? A 'leg up?'" Luffy asked quizzically.

Sanji blinked, then laughed, not having actually realized the pun there before Luffy pointed it out. Turning around, he looked out over the distance, and noticed a large bird of some kind. _A_ _ **very**_ _large bird,_ Sanji thought, putting one hand up above his eyes to block out the sun as Luffy had been using his straw hat to do the same. "Is it just me," he said after a moment, "or is that giant bird over there flying towards Rain Dinners?"

"Hmm, yeah, it looks it, and didn't Vivi say something about one of the warriors of the Royal Family being a Zoan-type type Devil Fruit user?" Luffy mused, now looking in the same direction as Sanji.

Sanji nodded, then, before Luffy could do anything, began to hop back down to the ground, whereupon he quickly came back up carrying Vivi. The blue haired girl was flushing slightly at being carried like this by the cook, but at the sight of the giant bird in the distance she forgot her embarrassment. She began to pull off the scrunchie that had been containing her blue hair, letting it flap in the wind. She did not notice how Sanji took a deep whiff of her hair as it blew past his face, though Luffy did and rolled his eyes. Vivi refrained from shouting, however, knowing that her voice would never carry that far and being mindful of Sanji's ears.

The blue hair blowing in the wind must've grabbed the bird's attention, because it turned from its course towards Rain Dinners and came zooming towards them very quickly. As it came closer they could see more of the bird, and they noticed it looked like a falcon, only built as large as a human, and that it was wearing clothing: a white outfit marked with a pattern of dark purple knives or perhaps uneven crosses. The bird even had a turban on its head.

Luffy nodded his head down towards the ground, beginning to descend. "Let's meet him on the ground in case he has something everyone has to hear. And, um, what was that guy's name again, Vivi?"

"Pell," Vivi supplied, smiling and still waving her hands at the incoming falcon-man. "The greatest warrior of Alabasta!"

A moment later the giant falcon landed, changing form as it did into that of a tall man who wore the same robes that the bird had been wearing and a lightly curved blade at his side. He had dark purple marks around his eyes and down his cheeks, though whether they were painted on or tattoos none of the Straw Hat pirates could tell. He had the same sort of build that Sanji and Luffy did: slightly thin body, made for speed over strength.

The man quickly went to one knee in front of Vivi, placing one fist on the ground as he bowed his head his other hand held to his chest. "Vivi-sama, you cannot know how dearly you have been missed! When Chaka and I found the note explaining where you and Igaram had gone two years ago we had despaired of ever seeing you again, to say nothing of the worry this caused your father. However," he said, looking up at her, his face both serious and warm, "I could not have been more proud of you for attempting what you did. The same went for Cobra-sama and Chaka."

Vivi blushed while the crowd of pirates smiled but before any of them could say anything Pell went on. "The news that Carue brought us was grave, and immediately Cobra-sama decided that we needed to act on it. He has sent me in ahead of the army to aid you while Chaka and the king prepare the army to move out on Rain Dinners. Their mission will ostensibly be to quell the conflict between your friends here and Crocodile, but we will also be searching for further evidence. Unless the rebel army has force marched, they will be able to abandon the capital city and come this way quickly."

"Abandon the capital city?" Robin asked sharply. "Is that wise?"

Pell looked at her, but Robin thankfully saw no recognition in his eyes. "That was the king's orders," he said simply. "With the true villain in this tale known to us now, how could we not move against him?"

"That's nice and all," Luffy said, shaking his head. "But Croc's a Logia type. You're just going to be piling corpses on one another against someone like that unless you can counter his power somehow."

As Pell seemed to puff himself up with anger, Makino cut in smoothly. "Our captain doesn't mean any offense, but numbers truly don't mean anything against someone like that, only skill."

Vivi looked at them both then over to Robin, who had told them about Crocodile's power. She then nodded with a sigh, looking at Pell with her eyes narrowed. "Luffy-san is right. More bodies would, would simply make this confrontation all the bloodier. Also, we still need to make certain that there isn't more bad blood between the normal citizens and the rebels. We can't guarantee that the rebels won't loot the capital, after all. If I can intercept them and talk to Kohza then we can stop this war in its tracks."

"We're out of position for that," Nami said, shaking her head as she looked at the map. "There is no way we could get even to Alubarna from here, let alone wherever the Rebels are. Not even Luffy and the others Geppo-hopping the whole way would get us there in time."

"No, not all of us," Vivi said, smiling at Pell, who chuckled as he realized what she had in mind. "But some of us can, especially me. Pell, would you mind carrying me once more? I realize this will be for a far more serious reason than just to fly around, but…"

"You were as light as a feather back then," Pell interrupted, a fond smile on his lips, "and I have no doubt that you are still just as light today. I can easily carry Your Highness wherever you wish to go."

"Wait a minute," Luffy said, shaking his head. "I don't like the idea of you going alone. Do you think you could carry a few of my crew along with you?"

Pell nodded quizzically, looking at him. "I can, so long as it they aren't too heavy. But why?"

"There's always two sides of any battle," Luffy said with a shrug. "I really, **really** doubt Crocodile's the type to pull in his troops and prepare for a siege or something like that even if he knows we're coming. No, he'll still be pushing his own plan forward. And that means he'll probably have people in Alubarna to keep the chaos going if it looks as if the two sides are going to stop fighting, as well as stop Vivi from meeting with either side in person. "

"That makes far too much sense for us to ignore," Makino said, looking over at Robin.

Robin nodded. "At the least Mr. 2 will be there. Part of the plan that I knew about was to capture the king, and Mr. 2 has already used his likeness to start this entire revolution. And your connection to the Rebel leader Kohza has always been a major source of concern for Crocodile's plans."

Pell looked at the older woman quizzically, wondering how she knew that and who she was, but Vivi nodded slowly. "That's true, and he has agents within the Army and the rebels too. I know that from my own spying in Baroque Works. We also don't know where Mr. 7 or his partner is."

Luffy looked closely at Robin, who after a moment nodded back, understanding what he wanted. "Crocodile is…call it habitually callous with his people. Yet at the same time he is personally cautious, while at the same time arrogant. With the knowledge that Vivi is in the country, Crocodile will double down. He will send another pair of agents at the least to back up Mr. 2, while also giving out orders to his agents to keep you and Kohza apart at all costs. However Crocodile will probably stay put and wait for any attack to come to him. he will also keep Mr. 1 and his partner with him at the least."

"So at least a few numbered agents?" Luffy asked thoughtfully and Robin nodded.

"I volunteer!" Sanji said, thrusting his hand into the air as if he was a student answering a question from the teacher. "Me! I volunteer!" A second later he captured Vivi's hand in his own and bowed over it, kissing it lightly on the back. "Every princess should be guarded by their knight, and that knight is me!"

While Vivi flushed in embarrassment Luffy Ignored Sanji's over the top attitude, looking around at his crew and thinking about who to send who could add enough punch but also would not burden Pell. _That really only leaves Nami, Makino, and Chopper to consider. Sanji might be less bulky than Zoro and a little shorter than me in my normal body, but they are both still heavy. If I send either of them along, I wouldn't be able to send anyone else with them. And there is no way even Sanji could travel all that way via Geppo._

Nami wasn't all that strong just yet, certainly not up to fighting a numbers agent, though Luffy intended to force her to fight some of the cannon fodder. Her skills were decent enough, and she had begun to use Kami-E, which was good, but she lacked hitting power. He was also still trying to find a specific style for her to learn other than staff-fighting, hence why she had a metal collapsing staff Luffy had made for her out of pipes from the ship's plumbing supplies.

 _That leaves Makino and Chopper._ "Do you think you could carry Makino and Chopper?" Luffy asked, indicating the two of them with a wave of one hand.

Pell looked at the two of them and was about to reply in the negative, seeing the large, heavily muscled man standing to one side of Makino, a woman his own age perhaps with green hair. She would be no problem, but the two of them together plus Vivi would be.

But as he opened his mouth, the large man shrank his hat seeming a little too large and his clothes looking now as if he was wearing a tent. Pell blinked, then looking closely at the little creature, noting his horns and fur before nodding. "A Zoan-type user?"

The young creature nodded. "I'm Tony-Tony Chopper. I ate the human-human fruit. I'm a reindeer-human."

Looking between the three of them, Pell slowly nodded. "I could do it, I think. It will slow my return considerably, but let me take a practice flight and see."

With that Pell shifted into his falcon form and crouched down. He was large, with a wingspan at least as wide as Robin and Nami lying down head to foot, with a wide, thick body. But other than that and the fact that he still wore his clothing he looked exactly like a falcon, just built to a much larger scale.

The three passengers all clambered aboard while Luffy looked admiringly at the falcon. "Damn, it would be so awesome to fly!"

"You can already Geppo; what more do you want?" Nami asked.

"I know, but still, that would be awesome, to move through the air so fast and free!"

"It is," Pell said, smiling at the memory. "My first flight was one of the finest moments I'll ever know. Up there with actually being given the Falcon-Falcon Fruit in the first place."

Nami asked quizzically, "Why was that such an important moment?"

"Because it meant my devotion to the royal family had been noticed. It meant I could serve them better," Pell said simply. Hearing that, Vivi flushed a little as she finished clambering up in front of Makino. Chopper moved into her lap, and Pell pushed off the ground quickly.

After having some difficulty getting off the ground he flew around the small group on the desert floor for a few moments then came back, landing with a bit more force than he had before. The three passengers clambered off of him, and Pell shifted back to his human body, shaking his head. "I would have to take numerous breaks if I carried them all. Chopper, for all of his small size, is actually a quite solid little weight, and no offense to you ladies, but your weight does add up. Since speed is of the essence I think I should probably take Vivi-sama on her own."

"And that would leave you Vivi and your army to face these numbered agents and the hidden agents as well. I don't think so," Luffy said with a frown. "If Croc has sent agents to back up this Mr. 2, he'll have sent agents he knew could handle you and this Chaka guy at the very least. No, there has to be a way to overcome their weight."

"If I had thought I'd be turning right around I would have asked for theSuper Spot Billed Duck Squad tom meet me in Rain Dinners" Pell replied ruefully. "They are the fastest runners in the nation by far and could almost keep up with me on the wing."

"How about we create a balloon somehow?" Nami suggested. "A small one maybe that Makino could use."

As Makino paled at the very idea Luffy frowned thoughtfully, staring first at Pell, then at their supplies. "I could do it…" Luffy said thoughtfully, then nodded. "Would towing a balloon be faster?"

"So long as the balloon wasn't so big it would drag, that would speed up the journey quite a lot," Pell said with a nod. "In fact, if you could make it big enough for both Makino and Vivi, Chopper's weight alone would not affect my speed at all."

"Let's get to work, then," Luffy said, looking over at Sanji. Sanji was actually the next most handy of the crew, at least with knives and leather work. How that second one had come about, Luffy had forcibly stopped himself from asking. "I'll need a harness. Grab that saddle from the camel; see if you can flatten it out a bit and then add hooks to the ends."

"Gotcha, Cap'n," Sanji said with a nod, moving over. Then he paused, looking at Pell. "Would this actually allow you to take me along as well? Like the captain, I don't like the idea of sending Vivi-chan, Makino-chan, or even our emergency fuel supply into a fight like that."

At that Chopper roared about not being food and transformed back to his muscled form in order to attack Sanji.

While Sanji was dodging halfheartedly Makino smiled sweetly at him. Her ire at his chauvinistic attitude was currently overriding her…concern…over being in the air. "Sanji, not to put too fine a point on it, but until you start learning Busoshoku I'm actually a slightly better fighter than you are. Unless you would like me to prove it on you with this?" She pulled out a pistol, twirling it in her hand for a moment.

"Makino's right, she can handle herself," Luffy said, pausing his work to look at the two of them as Sanji held his hand to his chest as if Makino's words had wounded him. BLuffy then looked over at Robin, cocking an eyebrow. "How much does Crocodile know about us?"

"He knows about the complement of your crew and the rumors of you knowing Haki. I did not tell him anything after coming aboard," she said simply.

Pell stiffened at that, looking at her and wondering for a moment, but Luffy ignored that, nodding. "Let's organize this entire thing, then. We want to take out Crocodile, but we also have to find evidence of his connection to Baroque Works and maybe to the conspiracy against the royal family entirely. Just taking him out would stop his own plan, but would leave BW in place, and the war might well continue regardless at that point."

"Is there any one clue that could do that?" Nami asked skeptically.

"Dance Powder," Pell, Vivi, and Robin all answered as one. They all looked at one another, and the two women laughed before Robin touched Vivi on the shoulder lightly, indicating that she should speak.

She did so, smiling once at the older woman before looking around at the rest of the crew. "Dance Powder and what it does is the reason behind the Rebel Army: the idea that the royal family has been using it for decades in order to make their holdings and their capital more agriculturally plentiful than anywhere else. That we've used it to actually destroy new settlements, calling all available rain down where we wanted it instead of where it would naturally go. If there is one thing that would immediately prove Crocodile's culpability, it is a collection of Dance Powder."

"It's a highly illegal substance too. You have to have World Government permits to own any at all," Pell said. "In fact, if we can find some of that, we might even get the Marines on our side."

"I wouldn't get your hopes about that up. I'm afraid the marines might be a little pissed off at us for that," Luffy said, looking over to Robin, who laughed quietly, her eyes twinkling back at him as she remembered the last time Luffy had run into some marines.

"So, let's split into two groups right here," Luffy went on, pointing at himself then at Zoro. "Myself, my first mate here, and Nami will head right in. We'll make a big deal of it, make certain that all eyes are on us. Robin, Sanji, you two will sneak in and find some evidence. Only fight if you have to until you have that evidence and you have gotten it out of this casino of Crocodile's. After that, go wild!"

"Because we'll be going wild already," Zoro said, his hands touching the hilts of his swords affectionately. "I'm looking forward to facing this sword-man."

Luffy nodded, his own hands clenching and unclenching for a moment as he thought about facing a Shichibukai again. Facing Mihawk was, from what little he could remember, a rather one-sided affair. Luffy had been blinded by rage at the time to a level that he had never before felt in this life or as Ranma. But Mihawk had simply defended himself, launching no attacks of his own, and had been handling Luffy at his rage-fueled best easily. This time, however, Luffy was going to be in full control of his facilities, and he knew that that would make a difference despite Crocodile's Logia powers.

"Men," Nami and Makino said together, not for the first time, while Robin covered her mouth, chuckling quietly.

Sanji, however, simply made a heart shape with his hands and said, "Nice pairing, Luffy!" as Robin chuckled into her hand.

With that all done, Luffy and Sanji bent to their work while Chopper began to tie several ropes together into a single longer and stronger rope. Luffy used their tents to create a balloon sewing them together swiftly with a speed that had to be seen to be believed, his hands literally invisible to most of the watchers as he worked. Then he put it over the small portable cooking stove that Sanji been using as a field kitchen, watching as the balloon filled with air, before tying it off quickly, sewing it shut, and then tying it to the back of the saddle with several short lengths of rope tied around the balloon. "It might not be heavy enough to lift you, but it will be heavy enough to keep you in the air once you're moving."

"Oh, I'm so not looking forward to this." Makino muttered as she moved into the saddle. It was barely large enough for her and Vivi, the other woman sliding into place beside her. "Luffy-kun, remember that there is a reason I never learned Geppo…"

"Heh, sorry, Makino-nee, but remember that time you told me I needed to face my fears about furry demons? Well, this is sort of the same thing," Luffy quipped before letting go of the balloon not letting her get in a retort first. It actually did float a bit with both of their weights in it, but only a few feet off the air. "That good enough?"

"Get them into the air first, then I'll be able to pull them easily. Gaining height with that dragging me would be difficult," Pell replied promptly.

Nodding, Luffy and Sanji moved over, each of them taking a side of the makeshift saddle, which had been turned on its own side. This allowed the two girls, so long as they were friendly with one another, to sit side by side. Without further prompting they both hopped into the air, carrying the balloon and its occupants.

Almost immediately Makino began to panic. "This is revenge for all the times I've teased you, isn't it!?" she shouted, her hands clenching. One hand did so on Vivi's, and Vivi winced as the older green haired girl began to babble. "Oh, I don't like this; I don't like this at all! I'm seriously going to have to hurt Nami for suggesting this, and you, Luffy, for making this contraption!"

Luffy now smiled sympathetically, tapping one hand on the belt buckles that Sanji had made which tied the two girls down into the saddle. "Don't worry. These won't let you fall out. And the whole purpose of this set up is to get you and the others to Alubarna as quickly as possible. It'll be over before you know it."

"Pell should get us there in at most an hour and a half," Vivi replied with a grunt, trying to pull her hand free from Makino's grip and having little luck. Her voice came out pained on the last few words, which Makino noticed dimly and Vivi sighed in relief as the girl let loose her hand. "It'll be over before you know it," Vivi went on more calmly as she repeated Luffy's words, putting that arm around Makino's shoulders and pulling her into a loose hug.

Pell flew up and the two pirates went to work. They attached the balloon via a long rope to a series of straps and a single hook Pell now wore on his back, right behind where Chopper sat. When they were done, Luffy thumped the giant falcon on the side as Sanji dropped back down to the ground. "You're good to go."

With that Luffy turned his attention to Chopper. "This is going to be your first fight as a Straw Hat, Chopper," he said, holding out his hand in a fist. "Follow Makino's orders if she gives any and always look out for the crew. You can handle this; you're a Straw Hat and a **beast** just like the rest of us, remember that!"

"R, right!" Chopper said, stuttering for a moment, but his back had straightened as Luffy spoke, and he held out a paw, thumping it against Luffy's fist enthusiastically. "We'll see you for the victory feast!"

At this Luffy grinned, then stopped using Geppo for a moment, letting himself fall towards the ground before reactivating it, hopping the rest of the way down. By the time he was down, Robin and Sanji had already dressed in their disguises.

For Robin this came in the form of a local dessert garb, complete with wrap-around cloth which covered her face, leaving only her eyes visible. Sanji's wasn't as elaborate, simply local pants and shirt with a pair of sunglasses over his face and no cigarette in his mouth. The last looked as if it actually pained him a bit, but as he had refused to change his hair style or color, they had decided to get rid of his cigarette, at least.

"Wait until we're out of sight, then start to make your way towards Rain Dinners on an angle, coming through another portion of the town," Luffy ordered. "And remember to ditch Eyelashes when you reach the edge of the town. We might need him later."

"I have done this kind of thing before, Captain-san," Robin said tartly.

"I know," Luffy said with a grin. "Just want ta make sure we're all the same page."

"I don't see why I have to go with you two, so we're not all on the same page," Nami said, her voice even more tart than Robin's. She had wanted to mention that earlier, but with Vivi's mission being time critical she had decided to wait until Vivi and her group were on their way.

"Because you still need experience fighting, Nami, and Robin knows the layout of the casino. And because you'd probably stop and try to steal from all the guests," Luffy said, his voice going from serious to teasing with those last few words.

Nami huffed, pushing him in the shoulder, but she didn't deny that. She did like money after all, and anything she personally stole was hers alone, unlike the crew's treasury. But she was slowly beginning to realize that she liked other things a lot more than just money.

"You need more experience against multiple opponents," Luffy said, going back to serious. "You've trained a lot; now it's time to put that training to work." Seeing that Nami still looked dubious, he decided to sweeten the pot. "And I promise I'll start trying to figure out a way to make you a special weapon to help, whatever happens. Besides, Zoro or I will be nearby If you run into a numbered agent

"Fine!" Nami growled, shaking her head, though she did look somewhat excited at the idea of a special weapon, though she had no idea what it could be. Her collapsible staff with its heavily reinforced ends seemed nice, but it wasn't what she would call special. "Let's just get this over with, then."

Before the three of them moved off, however, Robin touched Luffy's arm lightly. "Take this," she instructed, handing a small vial over. "It's the antidote for a poison that Crocodile's hook can secrete at his command."

Nodding, Luffy took it and winked at her. "I'll see you after this is all over, and then we'll have that talk with the king. After all we'll have done for him, there's no way he won't pay us our reward, er, that is, listen to our request. And if he doesn't, well, I suppose I'll need to do something to regain my pirate rep after all this merc work."

Robin laughed then moved over to stand by Eyelashes as Luffy knelt by Nami, letting her clamber onto the captain's back. Zoro moved to join him, and the two of them marched towards the town for about forty minutes from where they had parted with the others.

Once they were within a stone's throw of the outer edge of the large town, Luffy set her down. A bare instant later, however, they came under fire, a shout reverberating out as the musket balls flew. "There they are! Get them!"

Luffy dodged in place for a moment, watching the bullets zoom past them, while Zoro flipped one of his swords out, using it to block or slice the incoming bullets. Nami ducked behind the two boys. Her ability to dodge was okay, but not up to dodging musket balls actually shot rather than hurled by hand at her. "Baroque Works grunts, I guess?" Luffy drawled.

"Probably," Zoro replied in an equally bored tone.

While several of their fellows fired at the incoming pirates, who continued to walk forward as if they weren't taking fire, several dozen others charged out with swords and other weapons. The musket fire stopped as that group reached them, and Luffy and Zoro went to work.

Nami fought, of course, but after Zoro had used a Tatsumaki to slice through half of the crowd at once, her contribution was minuscule. She did, however, continue to use Kami-E, dancing around the blows and returning several hard ones from her weapon, in its club formation at the moment.

"Do you think they're trying to soften us up or just pin us down for the numbered agents to get here from the casino?" Zoro asked conversationally, batting down two of the Baroque Works agents quickly, while deflecting a blow from another the same movement.

"Maybe, but if Crocodile is trying to keep us away from his casino he's going to be very disappointed," Luffy said with a smirk.

So saying he grabbed one of the agents by the back of his head, lifting him up as he picked out another, sending him sprawling with a blow from the first's feet. Holding his captive up in the air like a shield towards a few scattered musket balls coming their way, Luffy addressed the man. "Tell your boss that we're here now, would you? And his welcoming committee sucks!"

With that Luffy pulled back his arm and hurled the agent towards the casino. There was a scream followed by a thump from the distance, as the man hit high up the pyramid that was the casino, causing a gust of stone fragments visible from here.

"You sure that guy'll survive to give Croc your message?" Zoro asked, taking a brief moment in the tumult of battle to send his captain a sardonic look.

"Don't know, don't care," Luffy said with a laugh.

A second latter the battle became much more serious. "Mugiwara!" Shouted a deep bellowing voice, and suddenly there was smoke coming towards them from one side of the road towards the casino.

"Oh well, if that isn't just fantastic!" Luffy muttered sarcastically, shooting out several Rankyakus into the smoke. "Smokey the little marine that couldn't is here."

Smoker appeared swiftly after that, pulling his smoke back into his body shape and glaring angrily at Luffy. "I knew you'd be here! What business do you have with Crocodile!?"

"No business other than shoving my foot up his ass so hard he tastes leather," Luffy said bluntly before going on tauntingly. "So really, you're kind of obstructing justice rather than upholding it now."

Smoker glared but didn't respond verbally. Instead his arms disappeared into waves of smoke as he launched himself at Luffy, his lower body disappearing into a column of smoke which launched him forward. "You'll never get the chance to face him, Mugiwara! White Vine!"

Luffy sighed sadly, tapping his feet on the ground and leaping into the air and towards Smoker, his legs and hands lashing out with air attacks to blow the smoke closing on him away. Once Smoker had pulled in his arms again, another Rankyaku lashed out, this one much sharper than the initial ones, slamming into Smoker's body with a physical force.

The Marine grunted, but stayed on his feet until his body entirely disappeared into smoke, shouting out, "White Blow!" filling the area all around Luffy with smoke.

Luffy grunted in turn, lashing out with air attacks in every direction to keep the smoke away from his body. One of the sections of smoke suddenly twisted into a fist, which caught him upside the face with a punch. Turning his head with the blow, Luffy shook his head and shouted, "I've taken worse hits off old grannies! You're gonna have to do better than that, Smoker!"

The smoke began to constrict, taking on a physical form, but Luffy lashed out again with air attacks, dissipating it before it could close around him entirely. One of those was a much sharper attack than the others, and as Smoker slowly reformed, he held his arm, wincing lightly. "How is it that a pirate like you is able to use one of the Rokushiki better than anyone else I've ever heard of!?"

"How many Rokushiki users have you actually met and fought?" Luffy asked quizzically. "As for making it actually hurt you, that's just a speed thing. But I gotta say, I'm little disappointed so far, Smoker! You're still only relying on your Devil Fruit power, which I showed I could counter in our first fight. Was your jutte really your only second card to play? That's disappointing."

Smoker growled but charged forward again, his hands disappearing into smoke as he launched them with rocket like force towards Luffy. "I will beat you this time, Mugiwara, and then I will find out what the devil your connection is to Crocodile and what is really going on in this country!"

Elsewhere more Marines joined the battle. They concentrated on attacking the two pirates, taking the Baroque Works members as a civilian militia of some kind, as they tried to get through them to close with the pirates.

"This is ridiculous," Zoro grunted, shaking his head while using the flat of his blades to parry several Marines away. He had no qualms with killing Marines, but under these circumstances it would've left a bad taste in his mouth. It wasn't like the Marines knew what was really going on here, after all, and frankly most Marines were too weak for him to feel right about killing them. It would be like a lion going out of his way to hunt bunnies. The Baroque Works agents, however, he put down without mercy, causing the Marines to cry out in shock at his ruthlessness, trying to get between him and the crowd of supposed civilians.

"Unbelievable!" shouted a voice, and Zoro stiffened as he slashed down the last Marine around him, sending him to the ground with a bruise to his shoulder that he would have for days.

"I thought better of you Straw Hat Pirates, yet here you are, Roronoa, cutting down random civilians!" Tashigi shouted, racing forward from the end of the block with more marines around her. "Your blades must weep to be so misused!"

"Are your eyes just for show, or are you blind even with those glasses of yours?!" Zoro shouted, pointing down at some of his victims, anger covering his initial shock and concern at her appearance. "They clearly have weapons and clearly were the ones who started this fight! If you think they're just random civilians, I dare you to search a few of them. Ever hear of Baroque Works!?"

Tashigi frowned, glaring at Zoro for a moment, then down at the bodies scattered around the streets. Most of them did indeed look armed and she frowned. There was no way a town this size could have that large a militia, she counted at least 50 bodies scattered around, with more out of sight from her around the curve of the street.

Still, that didn't really mean her duty had changed. "Regardless, we Marines are here to stop the bloodshed from spreading! You pirates might have some personal vendetta against Baroque Works or be here to challenge Crocodile, but you yourselves are still criminals! Before Crocodile can even get involved I will capture you in the name of justice!"

"That's some pretty convoluted justice you're using right there," Zoro replied bluntly. Then he looked over at Nami, who had just polished off two more agents. "Hey that's good timing," he said cheerfully, backing away from Tashigi. "Why don't you two fight it out and I'll go look for an actual challenge."

"Don't just pawn your fights off on me because you think she's pretty and you don't want to fight her!" Nami shouted back at him.

Zoro nearly tripped at that, staring over at the orange-haired girl. "What sort of maggoty-brained female logic is that, woman!? That's not the reason I don't want to fight her. It's just she wouldn't be a challenge."

"I'm not a challenge?! How many times are you going to insult me until you're satisfied?!" Tashigi shouted before Nami could reply.

Zoro was about to reply to both of them when he turned slightly, staring as a man stepped out of a building behind Tashigi, making his way calmly towards them. He was a tall man, a little taller than Zoro, with close cropped steel-gray hair standing out slightly on his black skin. Indeed, his hair looked almost like metal. He had wide thick brown lips sticking out further on his face, which was very pointed, with a large straight chin like a maul. He wore a loose fitting shirt without sleeves open at the front, with the local variety of pants on his legs, and the kanji for the number '1' on his chest.

At the site of that mark and the feel of the man Zoro guessed his identity easily and grinned, first sheathing his blade and pulling out his bandanna, tying it over his hair before pulling out his blades again. "It seems the main guest has arrived."

Blinking Tashigi turned in that direction, waving the man off. "Citizen, please return to your home! The Marines will…"

She faltered as the man ignored her entirely, moving past her towards Zoro. A second later, she barely got her sword up in time to block a backhand blow which hurled her away over the nearest rooftop to land in the street on the other side, the man's reply of, "The weak have no place here," ringing in her ears.

The man continued to walk towards Zoro, not having even slowed down. "Bounty Hunter Roronoa Zoro. We've heard of you and your crew. You are not worthy to face Mr. 0, so he sent me to take care of you right here."

"You mean the mighty Croc is afraid of us," Zoro said as he pulled out his swords again, placing the hilt of Wado Ichimonji in his mouth. "I don't blame him. I wouldn't want to face our captain in a serious fight either."

That seemed to hit a nerve, as the man facing Zoro suddenly leapt forward, crossing the intervening distance quickly, his hands out and flashing towards Zoro. Zoro blocked the attack and heard the clang of metal on metal. He stared at the man's hands, which had formed into swords, the fingers all were small blades, the palm was metal and edged along one side. The arm beyond that looked like another sword. "So you really are a sword man!"

"Indeed. No swordsman has any chance against me. Your weapons or your skill will eventually fail, and then I will kill you," Mr. 1 said calmly. "You are no threat to me, and even less to Mr. 0."

"In that case, when I beat you I will have made the jump from cutting iron to steel," Zoro said just as calmly, his eyes glinting below his bandana with a wild air. A second later they charged once more, the clash of their blades a physical force.

 **OOOOOOO**

Nami had of course taken the opportunity to run the moment the two powerhouses had clashed, ebleiving getting away and hiding among the town's population was abetter idea than . Instead, she looked around for more of the Baroque Works agents, only to realize that the majority of the agents in the area were already down or fighting the Marines in scattered little pockets of combat here and there, even as the Marines tried to subdue them without hurting them. It was a chaotic situation, with the Baroque Work agents trying to shout out their innocence even as they cut down Marines.

This ended abruptly as a woman's voice shouted, "Attention, Marines! The attacking civilians have proven themselves to be members of the criminal group Baroque Works! Lethal force is authorized!"

With that the battle became far more organized as Nami watched. Groups of Marines began to link up and cut down the Baroque Works agents, outnumbered and out fought by the Marines. Nami breathed a sigh of relief as she moved back, intending to disappear into the limited alleyways of the small town.

"My, that's rather irritating," said a melodious voice behind her. "Ah well, I suppose our new orders come into effect now. Kill any Straw Hat we can, as well as any and all Marines in the town."

Upon hearing that rather bloodthirsty statement Nami rolled to one side as something raced overhead where her upper body had previously been. She kicked off the wall of the building to one side, leaping up over another attack before falling back to the busier street.

There Nami turned, staring at a rather attractive woman she'd guess as being somewhere around Makino's age, though she was wearing a outfit that Nami knew Makino wouldn't be caught dead in. It consisted of high heeled boots which came up to her thigh, connected by stockings to even shorter shorts than Nami would've been comfortable with. She had somewhat built shoulders and long thin arms, with dark blue poofy hair, almost like an afro but not quite, as it was a little flatter on top than to the sides and back. She had thick lips, dark green eyes, and pale skin.

She also was smiling evilly at Nami, moving towards her from the alleyway. "Sorry, missy," she said mock-pleasantly, all of her fingers suddenly turning into long spikes. "But you just drew the short straw."

"Kami-E!" Nami snarled, not answering the girl, knowing she had to concentrate. The woman stabbed and slashed at her, but Nami dodged around the attacks just like Luffy had been teaching her. She couldn't keep it up for long, but she hoped it would be long enough.

The blows missed almost looking as if the wind of their passage was able to blow Nami to one side, and the woman, who Nami guessed was Ms. Doublefinger, frowned. "Interesting little trick. Let's see how long you can keep it up!"

Instead of dodging backwards, however, Nami closed. Once within range she lashed out with a kick that took the woman in the side, using the momentum of that to push herself backwards out of range of any retaliation.

Landing on the ground, she leaped forward once more as the woman's entire body began to grow spikes. But before the process could finish, Nami brought her staff around into the other woman's face, sending her staggering backwards.

Now sporting a bloody lip and a bruised face, Ms. Doublefinger growled, sinking her fingers into her own shoulders. "Maybe I should have taken you seriously from the get go. I won't make that mistake again."

With that, the rest of her body finished its transfiguration, and her arms began to bulk up as she shouted an attack phrase."Toge-Toge Dopping!" When she was done she charged forward, slamming into the side of the building behind Nami, and smashing straight through it.

Nami stared in shock at the amount of damage the other woman had done, the woman's spikes having cut through the stone like steel through wood, and she began to gibber a little bit in her head. _I can't take on someone like_ _ **that.**_ _What was I even thinking!?_

Gibbering like that didn't help, but her feet seemed to know what to do. Nami found herself racing away from the house that the woman had destroyed before she could extricate herself from the rubble.

Ms. Doublefinger did so simply by slicing open a wall and walking out calmly, looking around for found the younger woman several hundred yards away already, and accelerating. Shaking her head in amusement, Ms. Doublefinger began to race after the girl, laughing wildly. "You think you can get away from me?"

She paused for just a brief moment as a troop of Marines came out, then twitched angrily as Nami shouted, "Pirate! She's right behind me!" and leaped over their heads. A few of the men there looked up, their hearts in their eyes, as jumping in one of the local garbs showed off a lot of leg. The others, however, kept their attention on what Nami had actually said and raised their pistols and muskets towards Ms. Doublefinger.

"SurrendAHHH!" was the only word one of them got out before Ms. Doublefinger was in among them, her spikes out, slicing and stabbing.

Two of her attacks were stopped, however, and she found herself facing the same woman who had shouted earlier for the Marines to start fighting back. Her body rather scuffed and her eyes blazing from having been so easily brushed aside moments ago, Tashigi barked out, "I don't care which group you're with! Surrender or I will use force!"

"Tell me, has that ever actually worked?" Ms. Doublefinger asked mock-pleasantly. With that her hand flew forward, spikes appearing all around it again, but Tashigi began to block or dodge her attacks quickly, the two women dancing around one another.

Even as she was doing this, however, Ms. Doublefinger was able to shoot out a spike towards where Nami had hidden, stabbing through the barrel she had been hiding behind and into the girl's ankle, Nami having dodged at the last instant forward almost out of the way. As Nami screamed Ms. Doublefinger said conversationally, "Don't think I've forgotten about you, dear."

Rolling away and holding her ankle in pain, Nami groaned. _I'm really going to have to learn some of that Tekkai technique._ _Damnit, I can't even run away! If she puts down that Marine, she'll just keep coming after me!_

"Hey, Marine girl!" Nami said, wincing as she got to her feet, working her ankle a little. It hurt like blazes, but it was able to take her weight still, which would have to be good enough. "What say we team up on this blue haired bitch?"

"Excuse me!" both other women shouted at Nami, stopping their fight for a second to glare at her.

Nami paled as she realized Tashigi too had blue hair. "I, I meant the one with spikes!"

"No," Tashigi said seriously, moving backwards so that she could keep both of the other women in sight without turning her body, her eyes still blazing. "I don't know you, but you must be one of the Straw Hat Pirates given the fact this woman is fighting you. I will never team up with a pirate, and I will arrest the both of you!"

"You're welcome to try, dear," Ms. Doublefinger said in her normal mock-pleasant tone, making Nami think of Makino for some reason, except somehow inverted.

As Nami raised her staff into a defensive position, she shook her head at that thought, wondering once more why this was happening to her, and if she should try to run regardless. One thing she was certain of however. She was going to smack Luffy for forcing her to fight like this in the first place.

 **OOOOOOO**

Sanji and Robin had successfully skirted around the town for a while, entering it at a different point than their crewmates and completely avoiding the fight occurring in that part of the town. A fight, Sanji noted, that seemed to be growing and spiraling out of control, with more and louder sounds of battle echoing over the town.

His thoughts were interrupted by Robin placing a hand on his shoulder, causing his eyes to turn into hearts as he turned to her. "Yes, Robin-chan? What can I do for you?"

"We're nearly there," she whispered. "Remember, we're not here to confront Crocodile or even be seen at all if we can help it. We're to find some evidence against him and get out." _And if I can find out anything that points to where the Rio Poneglyph is and why he thought we needed to kidnap Cobra all the better._

They walked toward the entrance of the casino they passed over a small bridge that spanned a tiny part of the lake that was next to the town. As they did, Sanji noted dozens of the so-called Billions running towards where the fight was and had to fight back a laugh. Robin smiled too. "Your captain makes a fantastic decoy."

"Harsh, but rather true at the moment, Robin-chan," Sanji said with a smile, opening up the door to the casino. "It's a pity you have to cover your face with that wrapping," he went on, reaching out to pull lightly at her turban. "Otherwise this would be a most fantastic date."

Robin rolled her eyes, but did not reply with anything more negative. Flirting like that was just Sanji's way. "Come on. Remember to skirt around the edges of the main floor, but look as if you're interested in some of the smaller games going on."

In the casino they found that the battle outside really had yet to penetrate the casino's walls. There was no fear here, no running people or even raised voices, as if the battle outside wasn't happening at all.

The two of them exchanged a glance, somewhat confused at that, but Robin murmured, "Crocodile probably doesn't want it known that pirates have arrived, or anything about his operations elsewhere that might impugn his legitimate business here in the casino."

Sanji nodded, but before he could reply one of the workers nearby spoke up, answering a question posed by a few of the other patrons. "…There is nothing to worry about, of course. Indeed, our patron, the Shichibukai Crocodile, is not even going to bother himself with them. These troublesome pirates are just rookies, after all. He has instead called in the Marines to handle it."

The two crewmen exchanged a glance at that, and Sanji groaned. "We didn't anticipate the Marines being here," he said worriedly.

"Worry about them later," Robin ordered. "Judging by how easily captain-san was able to deal with Smoker the last time they met, I doubt he's much of a challenge. His people are probably more of an issue to the other two, but even there swordsman-san should be able to look out for navigator-chan."

"Ah, my poor Nami-chan," Sanji moaned, almost looking as if he was about to break down and cry. "Oh, if only I could be there to make certain of your safety rather than that shitty Marimo!"

"You'll be able to do that soon enough," Robin said soothingly as they moved further into the casino, coming upon the entrance to the back service area of the casino. "Now follow me, and step as I do."

Having been with Crocodile for so long, Robin knew where many of the traps and sensors were in the rest of the casino and was able to easily bypass them as they moved deeper into the back of the building and away from the public area. One of the traps, however, had been moved, and as Robin stepped forward, she felt a click beneath one of her boots. "Watch out!" she shouted, just as the ground beneath her and Sanji gave way, dropping them down into a pit.

Or it would have if Robin had not activated her Hana-Hana power quickly. Hands formed along the sides of the hole, reaching down and grabbing first her and then Sanji, grabbing him so he dangled right below her. She idly noticed he tried to look up her skirt disguise and seemed depressed to discover she still wore her normal cowgirl shorts underneath, but decided not to comment on it, concentrating on more important things.

"This wasn't here when I was here last, but I suppose I should've anticipated… What is that?" Robin cut herself off as she noticed a green drop of something appear on the side of the pit's wall above them.

That single drop became a flood of green slime pouring down like a river into the pit. "Ara…"

"Excuse me, mademoiselle!" Sanji grunted, flipping himself upwards. He placed both his hands lightly on Robin's shoulders for a moment lashing out with his feet so fast above their heads his legs were a mere blur. "Anti-manner Kick Course!"

Sanji's kicks impacted, flinging and dispersing the green muck to either side of the two of them hanging there. As he did, however, some portions of the green sludge became needles, slicing Robin and Sanji here and there. Wincing as the back of his hand was cut open, Sanji shouted. "Lift us up out of the pit, Robin-chan. I'll defend you, fair damsel, never fear!"

Robin did so, slowly pulling them upwards while Sanji continued to use his feet to kick the green sludge away. He had to actually flip himself down or to either side in order to do so. But Robin lifted them up quickly, and a second later Sanji could push-off with his legs into the air above the pit, where he lashed out again and again, using weak versions of the Rankyaku. He couldn't cut wood or anything solid with it yet, but it served to push away or at least disperse the green slime.

Robin quickly followed him, and then the bits and pieces of slime began to actually climb up the side of the pit, fighting gravity as if it was under someone's control. When it formed into larger smears, they formed into massive spikes that shot toward Sanji, forcing him to dodge. He tried to kick one, but found it was so solid his kick bounced off it in this form and the large spikes were too heavy for him to kick out of the way. Instead he dodged to one side, landing by Robin as they stared at the pit.

The two pirates watched with wide eyes as the remaining bits and pieces of sludge slowly drew together up out of the pit connecting to the spikes and absorbing them. Soon after that they formed into the image of a tall man, and slowly color began to spread through the green. The man was tall, taller than any of the crew, with wide, dirty blonde hair down to his shoulder and a sneering face with a heavy, powerful chin. He wore a uniform that looked almost like that of a Marine admiral's, a loose coat, white pantaloons, and white shirt.

Robin stared in shock, her expression visible since she had lost her headdress when they fell. "General Gasparde!"

"You know this man, Robin-chan?" Sanji asked, flicking out a cigarette and popping it into his mouth before lighting it. He ignored the small cuts littering his body though making a note of the ones on Robin, vowing to make this bastard pay for each of them in turn.

"I do. He is a former Marine who mutinied against the Marines and took one of their most powerful warships for his own, after which he became a very notorious pirate! His bounty is actually only ten million beli less than Crocodile's! Why is he here now, though…" Robin said, muttering the last words to herself as she moved backwards slightly, her eyes wary and her arms crossed over her chest just in case.

"I had grown tired of my normal games," the large man said slowly, showing that he had heard Robin's voice, arrogance flowing from every word. "And Crocodile offered me an alliance. None of his normal underlings specialize in capturing their opponents, and I am not so foolish as to turn down the patronage of a Shichibukai, especially one with such an intriguing plan! Why in the world you would ever have gone against him is beyond me, Nico Robin. The power you could have wielded if you had stayed by his side and helped him to resurrect this weapon, this Pluton, he is searching for."

"Ambition like that has never been part of my dream," Robin said honestly, even as she prepared herself to run or fight if need be.

"And that is a pity indeed," said Crocodile, appearing from around the corner behind Gasparde. He too was a tall man, at least a foot taller than Luffy or Sanji and Zoro, but not quite as tall as Gasparde. He wore a very good suit and trousers combination with a long flowing fur coat, had a scar on his face, and a large cigar clenched between his teeth. He also had a hook which seemed to have replaced one of his hands.

Sanji noted that the so-called general stiffened a little before moving to one side, allowing both of them to stand side-by-side on the other side of the pit from Robin and Sanji as well as to keep an eye on one another. But whatever their distrust in one another, Sanji knew he was overmatched, and immediately began to look for a way out, slowly retreating one foot behind the other.

"You could have been the most powerful woman in the world. You could have had anything you wanted, even beyond your foolish personal obsession. But now you will watch your new crew die, and I'll still have you read out the instructions for Pluton one way or the other, Nico Robin," Crocodile continued as he stood beside Gasparde as if he hadn't noticed or didn't care that Robin and Sanji were backing away from them.

Before anyone else could do anything Sanji's foot lashed out to the side as he grabbed Robin pulling her to him. The wall collapsed and he flashed through the rubble using Soru. Even so, several large spikes of that same green sludge that Gasparde was made of slammed into the ground where the two of them had been and then through the rubble and dust of the wall. One of them impacted something as the tip was tinted with red as Gasparde retracted the spikes back into his body as the rubble began to settle.

Crocodile's arm disappeared into sand, his hand moving forward on a thin wave of sand to touch the rubble of the wall. The rubble seemed to crack, than erode into dust under his touch, leaving the two men to stare out into the environs of the tiny island Rain Dinners had been built on. Beyond it the water moved with several large baniwana, massive alligators that had odd banana growths on their noses. Neither Robin nor Sanji were there, though there was a small blood trail which ended abruptly. But neither man seemed unhappy about this; it simply meant their prey would die tired.

"Remember," Crocodile said calmly looking up at the somewhat taller man. "I need her alive. As for the other one, how you deal with him is up to you."

"So long as you keep your end of the bargain, I will bring Nico Robin back to you," Gasparde nodded. The two men stared at one another as Crocodile nodded his head. Both of them knew they couldn't really trust one another, and both of them knew that this alliance was only temporary. If Crocodile showed a moment of weakness, Gasparde would strike, supplanting him if he could. And if Gasparde proved a liability, or even showed any inclination to strike at Crocodile, Crocodile would do away with him as well.

Before that could happen, however, the rest of the pirate crew that Robin had seemingly taken up with would have to be dealt with, and the operation against the Alabasta government and revolutionary forces would be brought to a successful conclusion. Until then, they could at least trust one other.

"I will go and deal with the captain," Crocodile said, slowly moving across the pit on tiny motes of sand. "You, deal with those two. The second half of your reward will be given to you after I am crowned king of this nation and have the blueprints of Pluton in my hand."

"Of course I'll do as you ask," Gasparde said. "We are, after all, allies." Crocodile looked at him, and they exchanged thin smiles before turning away.

Gasparde moved back through the casino, thinking that the two of them might have doubled back inside. At the same time, Crocodile turned his attention to the town around his casino.

 **OOOOOOO**

"What was that?" Sanji muttered, hissing as he touched his side, which had been impaled by one of the spikes which Gasparde had shot out after him and Robin as they had ducked under the rubble he had created. The wound was small, but deep, and he was forced to wad up his handkerchief and tear off a bit of his disguise to use as a bandage. "What kind of fruit does Gasparde have, do you know?"

"According to reports, Gasparde ate the Candy-Candy fruit. He can make himself gelatinous, though he can't really create more of it, not like Ace could with fire. But he can also harden it into something strong as steel, as we saw. I have no idea what kind of weaknesses he might have," Robin said breathing in deeply. The two of them were hiding up on top of the Crocodile statue that was part of the casino's entranceway, out of sight at the moment and hopefully out of mind.

Sanji shook his head, looking up at the sky as he brought out another cigarette, lighting it then, staring at the end of it thoughtfully. "Candy…" he muttered, scratching his chin thoughtfully. "Actually, I might be able to fight him then. You go and see if what you can find in terms of evidence, Robin-chan. I'm going to take a brief detour to the kitchens…"

 **OOOOOOO**

By the time that the fight in the town around Rain Dinners had begun, Makino and the others had already come within sight of Alubarna and were slowly settling down towards land, such was the speed of air travel in comparison to walking. Thankfully for Vivi's ears Makino had long stopped screaming, though not before practically deafening Vivi in one ear.

But Vivi thought that her quiet, exceedingly heartfelt vows to brutally murder Luffy and Nami for getting her into this were somewhat terrifying. She had turned green numerous times as the woman, who she had always thought of as kind and almost sisterly, went into bloodthirsty details as she described what she would do to her crewmates.

Pell had mercifully been out of range of most of Makino's words, though not her shrieking earlier. Despite that, it was still with a bit of relief that he began to spiral down to the capital. "Chopper, could you tell the two ladies that were coming in for a landing?" he asked. He had been having a nice conversation with the younger Zoan-type as he gave some tips about different ways to use his different forms in combat.

Chopper nodded and was about to turn to do so when he caught a flash of something to their side. "What's that?" When Pell looked at him quizzically, Chopper explained. "Something flashed over there in the face of that large clock tower… Ahhhh! Now something's shooting at us!"

From the large clock tower set to one side of a large open square came something like tiny square-sided bullets of some kind. Thought they weren't actually being shot at Pell. Rather they were being shot at the balloon behind them.

Before they could close however Makino had spotted them and fired at them with her pistol, destroying them before they could come close. An instant later, several normal musket balls began to fly up one after another from the clock tower.

"What in the world is going on? Who would be firing at us in our own capital?!" Pell shouted. Below in the square, several soldiers who had been bustling around began to move in the direction of the clock tower too, but Pell decided to deal with this on his own. "Hold on, Chopper!"

As Chopper's hooves clamped down on the back of Pell's shirt and the two girls were shouting out questions and curses in their balloon as it was nearly dragged sideways from his sudden movement, Pell banked to one side, zooming towards the clock tower faster than the bullets could adjust for. He pulled up directly in front of the clock tower's face, and switched forms to his half falcon/half human form, ignoring how tight the strap around his waist became as he did, his clawed hands reaching under his wings. From two pouches below his wings he pulled out twin Gatling guns and began to hose down the front of the clock face and the little room up on top of it with musket balls

Pell could actually remember that little room rather fondly. Vivi and her young friends had hidden away up there, calling it their secret base, though it wasn't really very secret to him or the other Royal guardsmen. He was sorry to do this, but judging from the weight of fire, there had to be several enemies of some sort in there. And with the Princess behind him, Pell wasn't in the mood to wonder whether or not they were Baroque Works agents or someone else.

After that he peeled away, letting the balloon slowly move around the clock tower as below him several hundred or so Royal Army guards stormed into the tower from below. The flash of blue hair as Vivi leaped from the balloon onto the sill of the clock towers tiny room caused a vast susurration of noise as the guards recognized their princess. She was quickly followed by Makino, who moved just as easily, if not as gracefully.

With its passengers gone, Chopper quickly loosed the rope holding the balloon to Pell's back, and the Falcon Zoan flew once more around the clock tower before landing on the windowsill, Vivi and Makino having moved further into the area.

"What is that doing here!?" Vivi growled, pointing at a giant cannon that had somehow been installed in her and her friends' secret base. "How could someone have gotten this up here without anyone knowing?"

"I rather expect that some people did. Remember that you said Baroque Works has agents both in the Royal and Rebel armies, they could no doubt have made certain their people were on watch then they moved this in." Makino replied, looking over at Pell. "Speaking of, maybe you should stop those guardsmen from running up here? Just in case."

Pell nodded brusquely, wondering once more who this green-haired woman was. She spoke and acted with authority at times that belied her normal attitude, which was as far removed from the normal way pirates acted as one could imagine. Despite that, he did as she asked, heading to the door and ordering the army troops to turn around, wondering if she had been right and there were BW agents among them. But he decided not to jump at shadows and simply waited.

Behind Pell, Makino jumped up to stand on the lip of the cannon, which was about as wide as she was tall. Vivi suddenly noticed the bodies of two dead agents, both of whom had been riddled by Pell's bullets. She recognized them both, the missing Mr. 7 and Miss Father's Day. Before she could think of what she thought about seeing their bodies like that, Makino's voice interrupted her. "There's a bomb in here. I'd say a very big one just judging by its size, though I'm not an expert. There seems to be a timer on it, but I can't be sure. I'm not strong enough to turn it around and see, but I think I'm hearing ticking."

"Out of the way, Makino," Chopper said, shifting to his strong form. "I'll get it out of there."

As Chopper exchanged places with Makino, Vivi began to shake in anger. "What is a bomb doing here? And with a timer? What was Crocodile planning?"

Makino shrugged. "It was no doubt intended as a last-minute ace in the whole. After all, Crocodile wants both the rebels and the Royal Army wiped out; the how of it doesn't really matter to him. He could always blame it on rebels or the Royal Army wanting to take their opponent down with them, an explosion going off in the Royal Army's weapons depot, or something else entirely. Regardless, it would wipe out all of his real enemies at one stroke, leave Crocodile with the plans he wants, ostensibly, and a major power vacuum he could step into easily with his clout as a local hero."

"That's so evil! So even if we were able to convince the two sides to stop fighting, this would still be in here?!" Chopper gasped, working his fingers around the large mass of the bomb, pulling it out of the cannon slowly but surely, the noise of iron scrapping against iron nearly drowning his voice out.

"Yes," Makino said simply, before falling back away from the cannon's edge as Chopper pulled the bomb out. Pell had to help for a moment to get it out of the mouth of the cannon, but once they could examine it Makino found the timer at the back of the bomb and nodded. "It's on a timer, for about four hours from now."

The group were then interrupted by a voice previously unknown to the Straw Hats, saying, "That is remarkably well-timed. The rebels are about four hours away, judging from their rate of speed."

They all turned to see an unknown man standing there, although it was quickly apparent that he was only unknown to Chopper and Makino. Vivi shouted, "Chaka!" and raced over, hugging the large, if somewhat thin man, who hugged her back just as tightly.

"Vivi-sama, it is amazing to see you again! But, but I thought the plan was for Pell to help you and your allies in their fight against Crocodile? What's going on?"

After a round of introductions Makino quickly explained their reasoning to the head of the Royal Army, who winced at various points, not least of which was the idea that the Royal Army would not have been any real help against Crocodile. That hit his pride hard, but so did the fact someone had sneaked a bomb into Alubarna without him knowing. "So what are we going to do with that?" he asked, gesturing to said bomb.

"I'll dispose of it," Pell said coldly. "I should be able to lift it and get it out of the city."

"I wonder how many of Crocodile's agents knew it was here. Those two evidently did, but did they know it was on a timer?" Makino said thoughtfully, watching as Pell switched forms and grabbed the bomb by a small handle set behind the timer, lifting it into the air with massive flaps of his wings.

"Does it matter right now?" Vivi asked.

"No, but it might if there are other agents around. Why fight if you can talk them out of fighting, pointing out this betrayal to them?"

Vivi nodded at that, then brightened. "In fact we should make it known that the bomb was going to wipe out the entire city. We can't defame Crocodile among the public yet, but the Royal Army is a different story. Tell them that, and maybe the agents hidden among the army will refuse to carry out whatever orders they've been given."

"That is a good idea, Vivi-sama, but I'm afraid even if it works they've already struck a terrible blow against us," Chaka said sadly, looking between the slowly ascending Pell and Vivi. "The king is missing."

"What!?" Vivi shouted, staring at him in shock. "What do you mean!?"

"Cobra-sama had just ordered Pell to Rain Dinners to meet with you, and I had begun work on sending out overtures to the rebels and preparing the army to march, when a few of the servants discovered your father was missing. Since then, all our plans have stalled. I swiftly set up a cordon around the city, and I do not believe they were able to escape the area before that, but our search parties have yet to find him," Chaka reported. "We were aided in this by the arrival of a company of Marines under Captain 'Black Cage' Hina."

Makino frowned at that, looking over at Chopper then down at herself before chuckling quietly. "I just thought of another reason why it was a good idea to send myself and Chopper on this mission. Neither of us has wanted posters at this point."

Chopper nodded at that, but was still looking quizzically over at Chaka. "How was the king kidnapped?"

"We have no idea," Chaka replied to the younger Zoan's question before sighing sadly. "At least some spies or agents were able to get into the palace, that is plain. It would never have happened if Igaram was still in command, but that is not important right now. Vivi-sama, would you like to meet with the captain? She has been invaluable in searching for the king. We've already canvassed half of the city with her aid, and it's only a matter of time before we canvass the other half."

Vivi frowned, thinking hard, wondering where her father would have been taken to. She knew that this was a part of Crocodile's long-term plans regardless of her or her crew's involvement, but where would they hide him? "Somewhere where Crocodile could find him afterwards, and probably somewhere out of the range of the bomb," she said aloud, then sighed. "Somewhere out in the desert, I suppose. I'm afraid that he probably has slipped past your cordon, Chaka."

"Perhaps, but remember that it's doubtful that his agents knew about this bomb," Makino cautioned. "If their orders were simply to hide him away somewhere, they would not have bothered with that. And Crocodile could have planned to arrive before the bomb went off to remove the king, or perhaps also created a safe house within its radius which would protect him. I'm afraid you can't call off the search just yet, which means you will need to meet with this Captain Hina. Although, I wonder why the Marines are volunteering their help now? Have they ever done so before since this rebellion began?"

"No," said both Chaka and Vivi, and Chaka went on as he escorted Vivi down the interior of the clock tower, with Makino and Chopper following. "The Marines never involve themselves in the internal politics of nations, so long as neither side has said they would toss out the World Government. There must be something else going on here."

"Which means either they've begun to investigate Crocodile for some reason, or are still after us," Makino replied softly, so as to not be overheard by the crowd of soldiers around them as they exited the clock tower. "We will have to be careful, then."

They found Captain Hina at a desk set up by the entrance to the palace. On the desk was a map of the city, which she was using to help direct both her own troops and the Royal Army, pointing out areas which had already been searched. She looked up as Vivi was escorted towards her, her eyes lighting in interest. "The wayward princess has arrived. The reason myself and the Marines are involved in this little war of yours at all, though it seems the idea of your having been kidnapped by pirates was in error. Hina happy."

"I'm sorry?" Vivi asked drawing herself up with as much of her princess-given hauteur as she could to stare coldly at the other woman. "What exactly do you mean by that?"

"My colleague Captain Smoker intercepted a communiqué mentioning the Straw Hat Pirates, Baroque Works, and Mr. 0. We came and attempted to head off whatever nefarious scheme the Straw Hat Pirates were attempting, although they escaped."

Makino spoke up then, putting one hand to the side of her face as if in thought. "Is that what that was! We were actually in that port city when some kind of fight was going on. There was quite a lot of smoke and fire. I thought some kind of explosion had occurred, but you say that the pirates escaped?" she asked innocently, her eyes alight with barely concealed humor.

Hina's eyes flicked to her, then down to Chopper. "Hina irritated. Indeed. And who are these two, princess?"

"They are two of my personal bodyguards and my friends," Vivi said haughtily.

"This little one, he looks like a tanuki, certainly not tough enough to be a bodyguard. Hina skeptical," Hina said, gesturing down towards Chopper. Her glance at Makino seemed just as dismissive, but actually wasn't, instead being sharp and assessing. The way the green-haired woman stood spoke of confidence and experience in equal measure.

"I would warn you not to underestimate either of them," Vivi replied, still coldly, while Chopper growled a little at being called a tanuki. "So you are only here to try and stop whatever plan these Baroque Works and Straw Hat fellows have in the works, not to actually help us?"

"Since then we have come upon evidence that might point to a group called Baroque Works interfering in this civil war of yours. I was sent to speak to the king, only to be informed by the palace guards that the king had been kidnapped. No revolutionary would have done that without then shouting it out as loudly as possible, so we're assuming it's either the Straw Hats or Baroque Works. Baroque Works is a criminal organization, so whoever kidnapped him, aiding the search effort falls under our purview. However we will not take sides in your civil war," Hina replied.

The evidence in this case was a small restaurant filled with dead BW agents and weapons, along with some paperwork saying more weapons had been sold to the rebels recently. There was also a Den-Den Mushi, which had still been morphed to look a bit like Crocodile, as the devices always morphed slightly to look like their owners. The Marines, thankfully, had no way of knowing this windfall had come from Robin's response

Hina once more looked closely at Vivi and her companions. They were hiding something, she could tell, but not about what just yet. "Do you have any ideas?"

Makino looked down at Chopper, "Could you use your nose to find the king?"

Rolling his eyes, Chaka spoke up. "Don't bother. I'm a Zoan type myself, a jackal, actually. The kidnappers knew that and dropped several perfume bombs to cover their trail."

"Ooh, that's nasty," Chopper replied, wincing and holding his nose protectively with both front hooves.

"Hina amused. That was actually the first thing I asked too," Hina said. "Still, we are running out of time here before the rebels arrive. I will have to pull my Marines out the moment they are within sight of the plateau, and we still have half the city to search."

"Let me worry about that," Vivi ordered imperiously. "I will head out momentarily to meet with them. Before that, however, I think we need to make certain nothing inopportune can happen on our side of this conflict."

 **OOOOOOO**

Luffy and Smoker continued to clash here and there over the town. Luffy's speed and air attacks continued to stymie Smoker's use of his Devil Fruit powers, and as Luffy had feared, the man hadn't added anything new to his repertoire, not even a new weapon. Because of the way he was slowly losing, or perhaps because he knew Luffy was holding back, Smoker quickly began to lose his temper. "Damn you, Mugiwara, take me seriously!"

"Why?" Luffy asked, somewhat seriously. "I mean, you're not showing me anything new. Besides, I need to keep up my strength for the main event."

At that Smoker seemed to lose what remained of his self-control, his body once more disappearing entirety into smoke as his fists and feet flashed into existence here and there. Luffy grunted as a few punches landed, but between one second and the next, he kicked out at one of the hands, as it began to dissipate, his foot flashing black right before impact. Smoker gasped in pain, his body pulling back together for just a second.

As his foot returned to normal, Smoker gasped as his jutte appeared, shooting out like a spear from Luffy's sleeve. The end with the seastone in it slammed into Smoker's chest, and Luffy grabbed the other end of it, using it like a lance to carry Smoker's body backward and down to crash onto a roof.

"B, bastard," Smoker groaned, feeling his body become limp and unresponsive under the seastone's touch. "Freaking adding insult to injury, using my own weapon again!"

"Heh, pissing people off is an art, baby!" Luffy laughed, putting his foot down on the other man's chest next to the jutte. "Now, as you have a time out, Smokey, I'm going to go find Croc and feed him his own asshole. Do try to get better before you come after me again, else I'll start to consider ya an annoyance rather than a threat, 'kay?"

Looking around, Luffy could see Zoro still fighting a few blocks over, but couldn't make out anyone else. _Huh, where's Nami?_ Thinking that, Luffy hopped into the air and used a mixture of Geppo and Soru to head over that way.

Landing on a nearby rooftop, he watched Zoro and Mr.1 clash from one end of the street to the other. Zoro looked like he had taken a few cuts here and there, but nothing important, while Mr. 1 in turn was scuffed, but not injured looking. He also noted that Zoro seemed to fall back on a rather linear style rather than move from side to side or around, and Mr. 1 was the same way. _Something to think about in the future. It's a weakness._

As the two men met in the center of the street he called out, "Hey, Zoro!"

The two men pushed back away from one another, looking in his direction briefly before glaring back at their opponent. "Don't interfere, Luffy! This is my fight!"

"Wasn't even thinking about interrupting, though that guy coming this way over the rooftops might have a different idea. Just wanted ta ask ya if ya knew where Nami was?" Luffy asked.

"How should I know?" Zoro growled, shaking his head but not looking away from Mr. 1. He did, however, see the man Luffy had mentioned. He hopped down from another rooftop and raced in their direction, his hands hanging down his sides as he raced forward hunched back like an animal, running towards the two combatants. Around his wrists he wore long hooked claws, and on his face he had a large 'X' tattooed through what looked like a Marine sigil. "The witch ran off when 1 here showed up."

"'Kay, I'll leave you to it, then," Luffy said, making no move to attack the man with the 'X' on his face. "Have fun."

Grinning like a shark, Zoro nodded, then charged forward. The newcomer tried to take him from the side, but as Luffy watched, Zoro whipped into a Tatsumaki, and as Mr. 1 protected his face from the wind, Zoro moved to one side slightly, then lashed out with his still unfinished distance attack. Both attackers were blown off their feet, the newcomer being cut several dozen times across his chest, his weapons shattered.

Mr. 1, however was simply flung backwards to smash bodily into a building. When he pushed himself out of the rubble, however, it was evident that he was still uninjured.

"Huh…" Zoro grunted, shaking his head. "Still not worthy of a name yet, then…"

"Yeah, you got this covered," Luffy said with a laugh. "See you in a bit." Hopping up into the air, he paused, staring down at the odd newcomer, wondering who he was, but then shrugged that minor mystery off and went in search of Nami or Crocodile.

 **OOOOOOO**

Makino leaned back against the wall behind Vivi with Chopper, who stood beside her in his normal form as they watched the young princess work. She was a pretty good organizer, Makino thought, watching as yet another servant ran out the door carrying messages. Despite having been away for a number of years, Vivi had quickly and expertly taken command of the royal forces, restarting the retreat operation that her father had ordered, leaving the search for her father to Chaka. Vivi also ordered the troops to abandon the defensive positions around the capital city's outskirts, which would have given them a good defensive advantage against the rebels.

To do so Vivi had used four men, apparently champions of the Royal Army, to go around and inform everyone in the army what had happened and most importantly about the bomb. Her messengers were randomly chosen and paired with a squad of Marines to boot, to make certain her orders went where they should and were followed up on.

That being said, however, Makino still wasn't very happy about Vivi's personal plan to fly ahead and meet with the rebel army under a flag of truce. She didn't think it would work, not if the rebel army had come this far. But Vivi was certain that they could reach the last rebel army's camp before they started the final march for the city. _And I'm certainly not going to change her mind about it. She might not have given herself the airs of a princess before this, but she certainly has now,_ Makino thought ruefully.

Chopper tugged at her legs for a moment, and Makino looked down at the young reindeer. "Yes? You have a question, Chopper?"

"Nothing really, I'm just wondering, how are we going to find all of the Baroque Works agents among the rebels? Those two agents attacked Vivi the moment they saw her, so what's to say the ones among the rebels won't do the same thing?" Chopper asked worriedly.

"I don't know, though Pell could certainly fly them away fast enough if they come under fire. Beyond that, it might be out of our hands," Makino said. "Unless she is thinking of taking the two of us with her, which I am afraid I would not agree to. Being in the air once was enough for me, thank you!"

Chopper quickly backed away as Makino began to mutter under her breath, her fingers twitching at her sides as she imagined the horrors she would visit upon Luffy and Nami when she saw them next. _Makino can be as scary as Doctorine!_

At that point Pell came in, bowing quickly. "Hime-sama, Ms. Makino, Chopper, the army is ready to move south the moment the order is given. Chaka has been fully briefed, and I placed the bomb twelve kilometers to our north, well away from both our line of advance toward Rain Dinners and the rebel's line of advance on Alubarna. I need to get some water, but after that I'll be ready to go. I have also taken the time to prepare a large white flag for our mission."

Vivi stood up brusquely. "Excellent. I think I'll go get changed and meet you in the garden, Pell. I'll need to wear something that the rebels can recognize me in."

"Do you want some help?" Makino asked.

"Yes, please," Vivi said, smiling at the older woman.

"I'll send a few maids to help you on my way to the kitchens," Pell offered.

Vivi nodded at that, and the two women hurried out of the room, with Makino telling Chopper to follow Pell to the kitchen to grab some food of his own. "No offense, but you are still a boy, even if you're not interested in human women."

Chopper agreed readily, following the older Zoan-type user out of the room.

The two women took a few moments to quickly bathe Vivi and had just begun to finish up her hair when the door to Vivi's rooms opened. "The dress is over there, please," Vivi said quickly, not looking up from where she was lacing up her corset. "We're in a bit of a hurry, so if you could quickly undo the laces for us. I hope it will still fit me."

"Of course, princess," said the female voice of the maid, moving over to pick up the dress and begin to prepare it for the blue haired girl.

Something about the voice, however, made Makino turn from where she had just set down a comb, and she watched as the maid suddenly turned around from where she had been looking at the dress and lashing out with a kick towards Vivi. Vivi, however, was head and shoulders above the rest of the Straw Hats when it came to her ability to dodge, even if she had yet to learn Kami-E. Seeing the blow coming in her mirror, she yelped, throwing herself forward into a barrel roll before twisting, looking at the attacker. "What, what are you doing!?"

"A~r~r~a, I'm sorry, little dove, but my orders are to keep you from meeting with your friends in the rebel army!" said the voice of the maid, though this time it didn't sound anything like a woman's as the maid touched her face lightly with one hand.

At the touch the maid's face changed to that of a male with a heavy chin, wearing green eyeliner, red lipstick dabbed lightly on his lips, and makeup in spots on his cheeks to go with a bowl cut of dark green hair, almost the color of Makino's own. Vivi recognized him with a gasp of alarm, backing away quickly. "Mr. 2!"

Mr. 2 nodded happily. "It's always nice to meet a fan!" He became serious then, glaring at her, which on his face looked very odd indeed. "You've done enough damage already, little dove. We can't allow you to meet with the Rebel Army and ruin everything else!"

Vivi backed away hurriedly. Being in her underwear right now, she really did not want to have to fight this…creature…regardless of his known preferences. But Mr. 2 had neglected Makino's presence. The sound of a pistol brought that fact to the fore quickly, and he twisted out of the way at the last second as the musket ball passed, rolling away and turning to take up a stance that looked to Makino like one somewhere between a ballerina's and that of a martial artist's. "Don't even joke~~~! Why does a pretty thing like you have a pistol on you~~?"

Calmly dropping her empty pistol, Makino pulled out a second pistol and then a third from her pouch, cocking them both in her hands as she too took a stance. "Don't mistake me," Makino said coolly. "That was a warning shot. The next few however are going to be aimed at you for real. That accent of yours is making me shudder so much I think I'd want to eliminate you just for that, let alone trying to harm my friend here. Vivi, grab that dress and get out of here! I'll hold this one off."

"A-are you sure?" Vivi asked hesitantly, even while one trying ineffectually to cover herself with her hands. The corset she was wearing did not leave much to the imagination, after all. Even knowing Mr. 2's inclinations, she did not feel comfortable with him looking at her dressed like this.

"Don't even joke~~!" said Mr. 2 once more, quickly flipping himself through the air to land in front of the doorway. "Don't talk as if you're going to get out of here!"

"We're running out of time," Makino said, cocking back both of her pistols' firing mechanisms with her thumbs, sliding one foot forward from the other as she turned to point her side towards Mr. 2. "I'll handle him," she said calmly. "On three…"

Despite saying that Makino's back foot hammered into the ground instantly and she hopped forward with a small Geppo-aided bounce, bringing her pistol around, not in an attempt to actually fire it, as she closed. Instead it came around whipping towards Mr. 2's head. He dodged back, a kick lancing up to catch Makino in the chest, but she redirected it with her other pistol, pushing it to one side, bringing her first pistol around to face the man's chest before firing.

The man dodged to one side once more at the last second, kicking out hard, but she blocked that, shouting, "Tekkai!" and holding up a hand, her own leg sweeping his pivot leg out from under him. He rolled away, but this freed up the doorway, and Vivi raced through it, as Makino swiftly turned to face Mr. 2. She winced internally, wringing out the hand that had blocked his kick even as she took up a position in the doorway blocking any attempt to race after Vivi.

Mr. 2 growled irritably, glaring at her. "My mission might've been a failure, but don't think you're going to walk out of here either! My Okama-kenpo is invincible!"

"Tell me, is there anything that comes out of your mouth that it isn't going to make me cringe?" Makino asked conversationally, but a moment later she was too busy to exchange quips as Mr. 2 charged her.

 **OOOOOOO**

Vivi pulled on the dress, trying to do up the laces as she ran, though she knew she must look a fright at the moment. _But Makino was right; we're running out of time. I couldn't stay and help her, not now. I just hope that she can hold out until Chopper and Chaka can help her!_

Out in the garden she found the two of them, and both of them looked at her in surprise. "Hime-sama, what's happened!?" Pell asked quickly.

"Mr. 2," Vivi gasped out, whipping around and quickly letting Chopper do up the last of her dress's laces "The, the one I told you about, the one who can appear as if he's other people, he tried to attack me! Makino is holding him off. Chopper, you have toOWHA!"

At that point they were interrupted, the ground underneath the three of them suddenly caving in. Chopper swiftly transformed into his deer mode, and Vivi flung her hands around his neck as the reindeer bounced away. Pell transformed to his hybrid form and simply flapped his wings once, hovering in the air for a moment before moving away from the sudden hole. "What is going on!?"

"GAhh!" Chopper squawked, as something from below the ground grabbed his foot, pulling him away through the ground like it was a fish in a stream. He tried to get loose, but the grip, which was by a set of large claws that looked to Chopper like that of a mole, was irresistible. And with Vivi on his back he couldn't transform

"Mr. 4, we have, have a ball coming in, coming in from the right!" shouted a muffled voice, high pitched and almost as grating on the ears as Mr. 2's in Vivi's opinion.

In the far corner of the garden stood a massive, almost rotund, man. He stood still, not moving very much, but in his hand he held a massive metal bat, almost as big as Vivi was tall. He pulled it off the ground and began to swing it as Chopper and Vivi were carried to him.

"Hime-sama!" Pell shouted, flying towards them. His flight was interrupted, however, as small balls hurtled towards him. Pell dodged at the last minute, and the balls zoomed on, exploding when they impacted the palace wall. _What now!? And how in the world did these three get into the palace gardens in the first place!?_

From another corner of the garden came what looked like some kind of dog, low slung to the ground and with the snout of a dachshund. But while most of its body looked like that of a dog, it also had bits and pieces, particularly around its center, which looked like that of a cannon.

Chopper, however, didn't need Pell's help. Between one moment and the next Chopper had bucked his back up, hurling Vivi into the air before shrinking back into his normal form. The blow from the bat whistled between them as Chopper slipped out of the grip of the person who had grabbed them, rolling away as Vivi did the same, flipping herself twice to land on her feet nearby.

The dog took this moment to fire on all three of them, but before the cannonballs, which were painted like baseballs for some reason, could land, there was a shout, and Hina appeared over the top of the wall of the gardens, one hand thrust forward. From that hand several tiny handcuffs shot out, forming a cage so fine it looked like a net, enveloping the cannonballs. They exploded harmlessly as she landed, retracting the cage into herself. "Hina interested. What precisely is going on here?"

"Baroque Works agents are trying to stop me from heading out to meet with the rebels just as we were worried about!" Vivi replied. "This is the Mr. 4 pair: Mr. 4, his dog, and Ms. Merry Christmas. Be on the lookout for furrows of ground moving towards you; that will be Ms. Merry Christmas. And don't let a blow from Mr. 4 land whatever you do. He's supposedly super strong!"

"You've done a good, excellent, outstanding job of spying on us, but it won't avail you anything, nothing, nothing at all!" said a rather irritating female voice as a woman, or something that looked a little like a woman, poked its head out of the ground. It had dark purple hair in a frizzy afro and a stubby, almost elderly looking face, certainly older than any of the other agents Vivi had seen.

"What the heck is that? It looks like a mutated mole! Hina repulsed," Hina said, recoiling slightly.

"How dare you! This is my normal form!" Ms. Merry Christmas shouted.

"Don't let her looks or his fool you," Vivi cautioned. "They are one of the most dangerous duos in Baroque Works for a reason. They work incredibly well together, and don't forget about their dog!"

"I'll handle this," Hina said calmly, marching forward

"Me too!" Chopper said, transforming from his normal reindeer form into his strong arm form. "Go!" he said, picking up Vivi and hurling her into the air.

Before she could protest this, Pell caught her, flipping around slightly to catch her on his back before he began to gain altitude. From her position on his back Vivi shouted, "We'll be back! Hold the fort down for us! I swear we'll end this!"

The dog and the man began to throw explosive baseballs up at the swiftly ascending falcon, but Hina and Chopper both charged forward, interrupting their fire, with Chopper getting in close so quickly it took Ms. Merry Christmas by surprise, a blow nearly sending Mr. 4 crashing backwards onto his rear.

At the same time Hina's power activated once more, grabbing several baseball explosives out of the air when the dog fired them out from its mouth one after another, twisting around to add a bit more impetus to them. Before the dog could dodge, she had opened the far side of the cage net, letting loose the unexploded ordinance back into its face. The dog squealed in pain as the explosions went off all around it, before falling to the ground, seared and bleeding.

Hina smirked, taking a deep puff from her cigarette before flicking it out, staring at the now glaring Ms. Merry Christmas and Mr. 4. "One down."

Despite their anger at the treatment of their dog, the two of them kept control and attempted to use teamwork against Chopper and his reluctant partner. They did so by first isolating Chopper through the use of several baseball explosives from Mr. 4, with Mrs. Merry Christmas shouting out instructions as she zoomed through the ground below the palace garden, leaving behind several mines in her tunnels which blew up, keeping Hina hopping and unable to attack. After a few minutes the two of them had been separated to either side of the garden. At that point Mrs. Merry Christmas launched herself towards the more dangerous of their two opponents, while Mr. 4 launched several cannon balls towards Chopper to keep him in place.

That proved to be a mistake, as Mr. 1 or his partners would have been able to tell them: always kill the weakest link first. Targeting the strongest simply made the attackers split their own efforts and made them more susceptible to surprise.

When she came close to Hina, she bounced off something hard in the ground, a clanging noise reverberating back down her tunnel as she stared at it. "Wait, cages? Gah, she can shoot those cages down into the ground too!?"

Quickly realizing the danger, she dove down and away, turning and moving out towards Chopper this time. But he had taken the opportunity to close with Mr. 4. Popping her head out of the ground Ms. Merry Christmas saw this and shouted. "Mr. 4, look out, wake up, incoming, get your bat ready!"

Chopper dodged backwards, letting the massive two-ton bat pass by, then jumped forward once more. Mr. 4, for all his strength, was slow, and Chopper was able to get within his guard. Before the big man could do anything Chopper had changed into his Heavy Point, and two hard punches smashed into Mr. 4's eyes, one after another. As the large agent dropped his bat and quickly raised his hands to his face, Chopper used a move Luffy had taught him, wheeling up and over Mr. 4 and then hammering several blows into his opponent's kidney. The man groaned in pain and began to tip over like a top, and Chopper helped him along by sweeping his legs out from under him.

Then he launched himself in the air, performing a move Luffy had used on Zoro when one of their sparring sessions had devolved into a wrestling match. "Certain Death Gravity Elbow!" he shouted, bringing his elbow down with all the force he could muster right into the lower intestine of his target.

Miss Merry Christmas attempted to close with him, but she had made the mistake of thinking that the underground cage she had banged into had been a defensive technique. "Ground Cage!" Hina shouted from behind her.

A giant cage of steel burst out of the ground between Hina and Chopper, then swiftly began to shrink. It nearly caught Chopper too, with him desperately leaping up and out of it at the last second. The cage continued to shrink, gathering up Ms. Merry Christmas and continuing to shrink until she was trapped within a cage barely a foot larger than she was in every direction.

"Hey, you bastard!" Chopper shouted, shifting back into his normal form and pointing angrily at Hina. "Be more careful with those cage things! You nearly caught me in it too!"

"Ah, and that would have been so bad, of course. Hina regretful," Hina replied, her lips twitching at the mouth at the young-seeming Zoan Fruit user. She marched over to the moaning Mr. 4, binding him with handcuffs from his feet up to his shoulders.

"You… Don't tell me that was deliberate!" Chopper shouted, backing away rapidly as he shrunk down to his normal body.

"Mah, mah, of course not," Hina soothed with a distinct lack of sincerity, picking out a cigarette from her pocket and lighting it up before bringing it to her lips. "It isn't like I have some questions I'd love to ask you about the rumors that brought me here in the first place, or where you and the green-haired girl really come from, and whether or not you are part of a certain irritating pigtailed captain's crew. Hina grimly amused."

"EEEP!" Chopper whimpered, backing away quickly and smacking his back against the garden's outer wall. "D, don't come any closer!"

Hina smirked at him again before turning away, when there was the sound of shattering glass from nearby. She turned to see what Hina thought at first was a random maid fly out of the window to land in the garden. It was only when the figure landed that she and Chopper were able to see that it was in fact a man, albeit one wearing makeup.

"Hina disgusted," Hina muttered, shivering slightly before staring hard at the man, his features bringing to mind a bounty poster.

The man seemed to have been put through the wringer. One arm was hanging loosely at his side, the upper portion of it a mass of black and blue. His face too was marked by what looked like a broken jaw if Hina was any judge. And while still moving gracefully, it was obvious the man was retreating from whoever had done this to him.

A second later Makino leaped out of the same window. She landed lightly, one hand holding the remains of a pistol. She too looked somewhat the worse for wear, her other hand holding her side and one eye closed from a large black and blue mark. Despite that she was obviously now the aggressor, and the normal mild-mannered, kindly look was gone from her face as she stalked toward Mr. 2. "Say that again, I dare you!" she shouted, walking slowly towards the man. "Who's hips are fat, hmm? Whose?"

"Gah, crazy woman!" Mr. 2 shouted in turn despite his broken jaw, looking first at her, then at the others all around the garden. Seeing his accomplices' dire straits and Captain Hina stalking towards him, Mr. 2 turned and leaped up onto the top of the wall. "Until next time, my dears! Au Revoir~~~!"

"Pirate Bon Clay, get back here!" Hina bellowed, leaping after him.

"What an irritating fellow. Still, quite an intelligent one too," Makino said, her voice going back to normal between one second and the next the second Hina was out of sight. "Hello, Chopper. I see you've had an interesting time of it too."

"Ahh! You're injured, you're injured! Doctor, Doctor!" Chopper shouted, running around in circles for a bit.

"I do believe you are the doctor, aren't you? As for these injuries, they aren't much of anything, really. Don't worry," Makino soothed. Despite having said that she made no move to stop Chopper as he began to bandage her up..

"What, what did you mean, 'that guy's intelligent?'" Chopper asked distractedly. Makino's ribs were merely bruised, not cracked, thankfully, but she had taken a nasty blow to the side of her head right over her eye, which had obviously hit her before she could activate Tekkai.

"Hmm? Oh, he's just willing to recognize reality when it kicks his rear in. And willing to make deals to save himself and his original crew. I'll tell you and Luffy about that later," she replied, staring off into the distance. "But for the two of us, I suppose our part in this drama is over. It's now up to Luffy and Vivi to do their parts."

 **OOOOOOO**

With the white banner flying behind them, Vivi and Pell zoomed through the air, with the Princess clutching the back of the falcon Zoan's neck as she held on for dear life. "Pell, do you think this will work?" Vivi said in a small, almost weak voice. She knew what she had shouted a moment ago, what she had said all along about her chances of stopping the rebels from attacking Alubarna. But now that it came to it she was suddenly very worried.

Staring ahead of them at the mass of dust the column of rebels were making as they marched towards the capital city, Pell replied honestly, knowing that Vivi would much prefer that to empty platitudes. "I think it is our best chance to keep the bloodshed from escalating further, Your Highness. Whether or not it will work I don't know. Know, however, that I stand with you, whatever else happens."

"Thank you, Pell," Vivi said, smiling down at him. She wanted to loosen her arms for a moment in order to throw them around him for a hug, but at the speed they were going and with one of her hands holding the white flag, that just wasn't going to happen.

A moment later they were seen from the ground, and musket balls began to fly up towards them. Pell was, after all, known as the chief guard of the royal family, the most dangerous warrior in Alabasta. However, they were so high up the musket balls couldn't reach before falling down to the ground. Luckily they were ahead of the army rather than directly over it, or else those firing might well have hurt themselves or other people.

 _While kind of funny in a morbid sort of way, that would not have been conducive to my mission here_ , Vivi thought, as Pell began to descend slowly in wide turns around the front of the Rebel Army. The army slowly halted, more and more people staring up at the waving white flag flying behind the two figures above them.

Someone down below put a megaphone to their mouth and shouted, "Pell, are you here to surrender? Or switch sides at last?"

When Pell made to open his mouth, Vivi released the hand holding onto his neck feathers to place it over the top of his beak. At the same time she shouted, "My name is Nefeltari Vivi, and I am here to speak to your leader, Kohza!"

"Vivi!?" shouted the voice, and this time she smiled, recognizing it as that of her friend. "We thought you were dead! Where have you been the last two years?!"

"That is what we need to talk about!" she shouted back. "But I would rather not shout at the top of my voice for so long, so if we could have your word that you will abide by the flag of truce, we will come down."

Pell continued to fly around the front of the army, which continued to gradually come to a halt as units in the back piled up into the ones in front. A conversation seemed to be going on down there from what Pell could make out with his hawk eyes, but he could not hear what was being said. It looked, he told Vivi, as if there were two sides, with one side wanting to shoot them out of the air if the gun waving was any indication, and he assumed the others wanted to give them safe passage.

Finally Kohza raised his megaphone back to his mouth and shouted up, "Land a little ways ahead of the army. I will meet you there with my officers. No tricks, Vivi! Whatever our past, you are still the daughter of the abuser, Cobra. I can't protect you if you abuse the flag of truce."

Pell bristled, but a sharp rap to the back of his head caused him to keep his beak shut. "Let me do the talking, please, Pell?" she said, waiting until he nodded before raising her voice. "I understand! And again, that is part of what we must talk about."

A few seconds later the two of them waited nervously for Kohza and the others to arrive. "Kohza," Vivi said, smiling at her friend happily despite the tenseness of the moment, and then she went around and nodded to the others she recognized. That was about half of them, she was happy to see. The others did not look nearly as friendly, and Vivi had to stop herself from scowling as she noticed that all of the rebels were still armed.

One of her old friends, however, laid his rifle on the desert floor before sitting down and looking up at her with a smirk, shaking his head. "The gang's all here again."

"The circumstances are very different, however," Kohza said, frowning heavily at Vivi and making no move to join his friend in sitting down. "Are you here to surrender? You have never been implicated in your father's crimes, Vivi, despite having disappeared for two years. We can grant you asylum, and you too, Pell, if you're willing to step aside.

Pell once more growled angrily, one hand were dropping to his sword. "How dare you insinuate that I would ever, that Cobra-sama would ever!"

But Vivi quickly moved forward, placing a hand on his chest and forcing the proud warrior back. "We're not here to either surrender or seek asylum. We're here to talk. I give myself and Pell over to you as hostages for our good conduct for the moment, but you must **listen** to me!"

Kohza stared at her, then over at Pell, then over Pell's shoulder towards the capital city, then back to Vivi. "All right, you have a few minutes," he said simply. "But you better use it well."

Vivi opened her mouth, but before she could speak a shot rang out, and she collapsed sideways as a musket ball hit her side. Kohza whirled around, glaring at one of his officers, who was smirking at him.

Another shot rang out, as well as a shout. "Kohza and his accomplices have gone over to the Royals!" shouted another officer, and for a moment all was chaos.

Kohza and his friends, however, were better fighters than the other few officers there, and put them down quickly even as the rest of the army surged forward. Kohza grabbed up his megaphone and shouted orders, but still more shots were fired towards Vivi. Pulling his sword out of one of the traitors, Pell hurled his body over her as the shots continued to run out.

Even as Vivi gasped, trying to scrabble at her own wound underneath him, Pell grunted as a few bullets hit him as well. But he was a Zoan-type. Regardless of their form, Zoan types were far tougher than normal humans, and while the bullets were painful, they were not life threatening all on their own. He glanced down at Vivi and saw her smiling weakly up at him, blood in her mouth. "W, well, at least this way we know who the Baroque Works agents are…"

"Not the way I would have preferred to learn that, Vivi-hime." Pell grunted as another bullet musket ball hit him, but a moment later there was silence,.

A second later one of her old friends came forward, pausing as the falcon turned his proud head to glare at him, murder eloquent in his eyes. The man, the same overweight man who had tried to make a joke before, held up his hands. "Pell, we think it's safe now. We have some medical supplies left. Let us look at Vivi."

After a second Pell's glare subsided, and he jumped off of Vivi, letting the man move to help her.

'What, what the hell is going on?" Kohza muttered, staring at the officer who had shouted about him betraying his own cause, the cause he had started. "This, I've known Veger for years. He's been our chief logistics leader practically since the rebellion began! I know some of these other men just as well," he said, gesturing towards the other people who had attacked Vivi and the others. "They're not, they're not…"

"Killers or spies?" Pell asked tartly,. He moved past Kohza, pushing him aside roughly to grab the would-be assassin Kohza had called Veger. Dragging his body up, he ripped off his shirt, pointing out a tattoo on the inside of his arm. "Your Highness, is that the mark of Baroque Works?"

"I, it is," Vivi said somewhat weakly, before clenching her teeth as her old friends, Okame and Natto, began to patch her up as best they could. Both of them had been wounded lightly during the short, sharp fight, but they hadn't been shot, at least something Okame, a thin, slightly older girl with short cropped black hair commented cheerfully, actually winking at Vivi.

"Baroque Works?" Kohza asked. He had not, seemingly, taken any offense at being pushed aside by Pell, though that was a near thing from the narrowing of his eyes. He looked at the tattoo, then back to Vivi, speaking slowly, as if he was barely keeping control. "You were trying to say something earlier… And they didn't want you to say it. What the hell is going on!" he said, repeating himself from a moment before. "And what does this have to do with your father going insane and attacking his own people?"

Licking her bloody lips, Vivi began to speak. Given that last comment, she started by telling her friends about Mr. 2 and his powers, then explained about Baroque Works and what she had been doing for the last three years.

It took a while, but by the time she was finished Kohza and her former friends were looking at one another, shaking their heads. Natto didn't seem as if he really believed her, as did a few of the others, but Okame, judging by the gentle hug she was giving Vivi, did.

"We are…" Kohza began, looking around and noting the expressions of his friends. "I want to believe you, Vivi, it if for no other reason than our old friendship, but this is, this is impossible! You expect us to believe the last four years of our revolution has, has been a tool, that we've been tools of, of Crocodile, of all people? He's a hero!"

"He isn't a hero. He is a mad, ambitious **bastard**!" Vivi gasped out, the musket ball being removed from her side by a doctor as she spoke. Pell had moved to stand behind the man, his blade out and ready just in case of further betrayal. Yet even injured as she was, Vivi made certain to keep any mention of Crocodile's real goal out of her words. "He, Crocodile has a goal. He wants to rule this island, lock, stock, and barrel, and he would've wiped both sides of this conflict out!"

"Pell?" Kohza asked, looking over at the falcon Zoan, his earlier anger gone. He knew Pell couldn't, wouldn't lie to save his life, and there were at least a few parts of Vivi's story he could corroborate.

Pell remained silent, glaring around at the rebels, still in his half falcon form, his hands claws as one of them held his sword. Looking down at the princess, however, his body language softened noticeably. "Yes?"

"Where did you leave that bomb?"

"From here?" Pell looked around for a moment, then pointed northwest of the capital city aways. "Several kilometers out that way." Looking back he caught Kohza's eyes meaningfully. "It was big enough to blow up the entire capital city and everyone within it."

"That doesn't mean anything," objected one of the others. "That could've just been a way to wipe us out if they knew we were winning, taking us with them."

"How low do you think my Lord Cobra would go!?" said Pell angrily, moving to stride towards the man. "How dare you speak such slander of the king!"

"Pell," Vivi barked, reaching up to grab his leg, wincing as she did. As Pell stopped, she too looked at the man angrily, one of only two there she didn't recognize. "My father would never condone such a thing. I understand why you think he would: Mr. 2's powers and Crocodile's plans have turned you against my family for years, and vice versa. All I ask is that you wait. My father is missing; he has been kidnapped by someone under Crocodile's orders. That bomb was placed by Crocodile's orders. And we have people in place attacking Crocodile, searching for more evidence. With that evidence in hand, and with what just happened here, will you believe us?"

Kohza stared at her, his mind whirling. "But if this was true, if this is true, what, what we been fighting for!?"

"You've been fighting for a lie," Pell said, his voice somber but soothing and almost commiserating. "But it is not a lie of your own creation. Nor is it your fault you believed the lie. It will only start to become your fault if you turn away from the truth. If you refuse this chance to turn aside."

Kohza stared at him, then down at Vivi, and then around at his officers, taking a survey of their opinions without need for words. "We will wait," he said simply, "until the Marines you say are in Alubarna come out with this evidence. Until then, the two of you will be our prisoners. You said you were our prisoners in return for good conduct. I'm taking you up on that, Vivi."

Vivi stared at him, then nodded. She had done all she could. Now it was on Luffy's shoulders and the others to do what she prayed they could.

 **OOOOOOO**

While hopping around above the town Luffy turned, dodging a hook that seemed to come out of nowhere, attached to a man standing on a nearby rooftop. As he watched, the hook moved back to the man, the stream of sand connecting it to his body solidifying as he pulled it back, until it merged and joined the rest of his body, its appearance changing at the same time. "Yo, Crocodile," Luffy quipped, even as his face shut down a bit as he eyed the Shichibukai seriously, getting a similar look in turn while Luffy alighted down onto the roof. "Just the man I was looking for."

"So, you are Straw Hat Luffy. Without your straw hat, I see," Crocodile said, then without another word launched an attack at Luffy. "Desert Spada!" His hand forming into a blade of sand, he lashed it into the roof. Where it entered, the blade then extended into a wave, cutting into the roof like a hot knife through butter as it slashed towards Luffy.

For his part, Luffy leaped back into the air, shouting out, "Rankyaku!" Unlike the vast majority of the attacks Luffy had used on Smoker, these were all sharp, but that didn't seem to matter much. Even as his own attack carved into the ground between him and Luffy, Crocodile raised a hand, creating a shield of sand which absorbed most of Luffy's attacks. One of them got through, but sliced harmlessly through Crocodile's shoulder as it and his upper body turned into sand.

Crocodile slowly reformed, now glaring at Luffy, who was hopping in midair a few yard above and to the side of his position. "I see you are going to make this difficult." Despite his blasé tone, there was nothing blasé about the look he fixed Luffy with as he launched another attack. "Sables Pesado!"

A massive wave of sand lashed out from his hand towards Luffy, who grimaced and dodged, unwilling to see what would happen if he took that kind of hit even with Tekkai. Before Luffy could launch his own attack, Crocodile had crossed the distance between them, his golden hook slashing out and the other hand reaching forward to grab.

Luffy's own hands blurred, the crack of the sound barrier being broken, lashing out like a Gatling gun as he launched air punches at short range, blowing Crocodile into sand fragments. But even so he had to dodge and keep dodging as Crocodile reformed portions and parts of his body attacking in turn. _Okay, so air pressure attacks don't do anything against Croc's sand form. Makes sense, I suppose. Sand is a solid, smoke isn't. Rankyakus won't work either then. That leaves Busoshoku and my jutte._

With that thought between one punch and the next one of Luffy's hands flared into black for a moment as one caught Crocodile's reforming forearm. Crocodile had recognized it in the barest millisecond and twitched his arm away, even though he couldn't quite change the arm back to a diffuse form quickly enough. The Shichibukai grimaced in pain, but even in his merely human body he was tough and got out of it with only the beginning of a nasty bruise rather than a broken bone.

In retaliation he caught Luffy by the neck with his hook and hurled him down towards the ground. Many of Crocodile's attacks, particularly his long range ones, worked better through the ground, so he needed to keep Luffy out of the air. He followed this up with a shout of, "Barjan!"

Luffy flipped so that his feet were under him as he touched down very briefly on the ground, kicking up and to the side as he launched some more sharp Rankyakus Crocodile's way. They all hit Crocodile's reformed upper body scattering him but doing no damage. That hadn't been Luffy intention though. He had simply wanted to stop Crocodile from attacking him again.

Looking at the ground where Crocodile's last attack had hit, he winced, noticing that the area looked cracked and almost drained of moisture. _Okay, so watch out_ _for that kind of attack. Can he do that to people? Best not to find out, not even Haki could defend against that kind of thing._

Even though his body hadn't reformed this moment of hesitation had given Crocodile time to launch another attack. "SABLES!" A massive sandstorm appeared around the area before condensing under Crocodile's command and launching itself at Luffy.

"Tekkai!" Luffy shouted, just as the small sandstorm struck, sending him flying as the sand within it tried to cut at his body. After a few seconds though he was able to regain enough control to lash out in all directions with air pressure attacks, dissipating the whirlwind. He found himself out in the desert beyond the town, frowning as he realized that Crocodile had brought him out here deliberately.

Crocodile reformed himself out of the sand particles of the whirlwind, frowning internally as he stared up at Luffy in the air. "You think you can stay safe from me in the air, Mugiwara? Desert Grande Espada!"

From right below and to every side of Luffy, several dozen blades of sand erupted, so fast that again Luffy had no chance to dodge. "Tekkai!" he shouted again, lashing out ahead of himself with another air pressure punch.

The punch took Crocodile in the face, blasting it apart into sand while Luffy took his enemy's attacks wincing but coming through it with bruises already healing rather than missing limbs. But a second later he launched himself forward, getting in close before Crocodile could realize he had. Two Haki infused punches landed smashing into Crocodile's upper chest.

But even without a head Crocodile was aware of what was going on around him to a limited degree, and his fist lashed out, sending out blades made of sand that cut into Luffy's body. Even without Tekkai though Luffy was far tougher than most, and he took the attacks, lashing out with another Haki infused punch.

This one, however, Crocodile anticipated and he pulled his body out and away from the punch, making a circle in his stomach to let it through before reforming around it. "Desert Encierro!"

His limited Observation Haki screaming a warning, Luffy kicked off the desert floor with both feet, pulling his arm out at the same time, his kick off the ground giving him enough impetus to pull his arm out before it was engulfed. Rolling he kicked up into the air, scowling as he stared down at Crocodile, who had just reformed his head and body and was glaring up at him. One hand touched his chest and side, where he knew he had broken bones right now from those Haki infused punches.

 _Damn it, this rookie is as dangerous as I feared. Curse Haki and all who use it! And his ability to keep in the air does limit how I can attack him. Or it would, if we weren't in a desert!_ Crocodile thought, spitting out blood to one side. _Still, I can't be complacent even here. Busoshoku can let him end this fight if I do._

For his part Luffy was staring back at Crocodile just as seriously. _Can't hurt him with my long range attacks, not even my ki attacks unless I'm willing to break out the Sealed techniques, which I'm not unless I start losing this fight badly. Can't get close without running the risk of his own. Kami-E doesn't work very well against his attacks, but Tekkai does to a limited extent, and I think I'm giving him fits by staying in the air. And his speed isn't quite up to my own either. My Jutte could be of use though I will have to use it carefully._

For a moment the battlefield was still as the two of them looked at one another. Then Crocodile spoke. "I don't understand. You take in that conniving woman and you also fight for this country. Why? What did Nico Robin promise you; what lie did she feed you? And why are you involved with Nefeltari Vivi, or this country at all? What do you have to gain by all this?"

"I'm not here to gain anything. I'm fighting you for my friend Vivi," Luffy replied promptly, glaring at him. "As for Robin, she never promised me anything, nor did she lie to me. I'm not fighting you for her at all, except as a sort of secondary thing."

Twitching at that, Crocodile sneered. "All this for friendship? Are you a fool?"

"Meh, I've said before it takes a special kind of crazy to want to become the Pirate King, so maybe," Luffy shrugged, his eyes never leaving Crocodile's, watching them narrow and become even more angry than before. "But Vivi, she's a different kind of fool you know. She tried to talk us out of helping her, out of confronting you, saying we had done enough to get her here. Vivi would have done so herself. That kind of courage, it can't be stopped, and it would've gotten her killed. So, here I am, fighting in her place."

"….You…" Crocodile seemed incandescent with anger for some reason, his rage rolling off him in waves of heat. Why he was suddenly so angry Luffy couldn't say though. "You fucking fool. You, you seduce Nico Robin to your side, you fight **me** ,a Shichibukai, for such a stupid reason!?"

With a snarl Crocodile threw off his coat and began to rise in the air, his lower body slowly disappearing into tiny motes of sand. Luffy had a brief moment to realize that this allowed the rest of him to somehow skim along above the ground before Crocodile attacked him, his hands flashing into multiple curved blades of sand. "You're just another fucking rookie with too large a dream! Let me show you the reality of this sea!"

 **OOOOOOO**

The three way fight between the injured Nami, Tashigi, and Ms. Doublefinger was not an even contest from the get go. Tashigi couldn't quite get through Ms. Doublefinger's spikes to do any real damage, and she was too fast and too quick for the BW agent to hurt her in turn.

Nami was the odd girl out. Not fast enough to dodge with her wounded leg, she had to keep circling around the main fight, using spurts of Kami-E whenever one of the other two targeted her, but the pressure this put on her wounded ankle was such that she had to bite her lip to keep from crying out. On the other hand, while her clubs couldn't do a lot of damage, their blunt type of damage could get through Ms. Doublefinger's spikes more easily, smashing them flat with every hit.

As Luffy and Crocodile started their battle, all three women were battered and bleeding from their own, but it was Nami, with her punctured ankle, that was the closest to collapse. _Damn it, I need an edge, something to turn the tide! But what, what can I…_

Just then she spotted it, a forgotten pistol on the ground nearby, dropped by one of the BW agents. Elsewhere the fight between the marines and BW agents was slowing down, though there were no marines nearby save Tashigi at present. The BW agents in the area where their battle had taken place resembled the section of the town which Luffy, Zoro, and Nami had first come into, with bodies of the agents scattered around dead or unconscious.

But the important thing right now was that the gun in question looked as if it hadn't been fired. And whatever else, Ms. Doublefinger was not durable enough to take a musket ball in that exposed gut of hers. Nami was feeling a mite vindictive about the hole the purple-haired woman had punched through her ankle.

Dodging back from a slash of Tashigi's sword, Nami shouted, "Kami-E!" and began to dodge, trying to push herself in the direction of the pistol. The two other women didn't notice, nor had they taken the time to realize how much pain that technique should put Nami in. They were too busy trying to carve bits off of one another, and somewhat succeeding too.

Not that with her injured ankle Nami's Kami-E was perfect. Indeed, her attempts to control her movement towards the pistol actually worked against the dodging technique. She took several small cuts and slashes from both of the other girls before she had moved around them enough to be in lunging range of the gun.

When she did so, she launched herself forward into a roll, crying out in pain as she put more power into her ankle as she did, but coming out of the roll with the pistol in hand. She turned, and before either other girl could realize what had happened, the pistol flashed.

Ms. Doublefinger gasped, one of her heavily muscled, spike marked hands dropping to her stomach. The bullet actually hadn't penetrated very far. Her use of her doping power had given her body almost the durability Tekkai did, but not quite. The musket ball however had done some damage, and blood was now pouring down her side.

Before she could recover, Tashigi slashed out, the flat of her blade sliding between several of her opponent's protective spikes to crash into her neck, one of the few areas the doping hadn't visibly effected. Like Tashigi had hoped, this meant that the woman's body was weaker there. The blow smashed Ms. Doublefinger sideways, and she crashed into the wall of a house to one side of where the fight had been occurring.

As one enemy slumped unconscious to the ground, Tashigi turned. "And now for you, miss. You're coming with GAH!"

Nami had, instead of running, closed with Tashigi, remembering something that Zoro had said about the sword-wielding Marine woman. Before Tashigi could even recover from the blow she had dealt Ms. Doublefinger, Nami was in her face, one hand flashing out not in a punch, but a grab, as she leaped past.

Rolling and biting her lip to keep from screaming, Nami came to her feet, hobbling away as quickly as she could while her shoulder, the one she had landed on when rolling to retrieve the pistol, added its own sound to the melody of pain going through her. "Sorry, Tashigi, but I really don't want to fight you! You'll find your glasses on a barrel by the end of the street!"

"Ahh, wait! Get back here! You're under arrest!" Tashigi shouted, racing in the direction of the voice for a few steps before stumbling, nearly losing her grip on her sword. The blind-as-a-bat Marine scowled, pushing herself to her feet as she moved forward much more slowly, not seeing the orange blob she had heretofore been looking for. "Darn it!"

Breathing a sigh of relief, Nami turned following the small alleyway between two large buildings away from the road she had heretofore been following. _I am going to have a long…_ _ **talk**_ _… with my captain about this whole getting me real combat experience thing. Right after I see Chopper anyway. And if I never see that marine girl again it will be too soon!_

 **OOOOOOO**

Robin snuck along a hallway around two stories underground of the rest of the casino, a hidden area that even the majority of the casino's workers and Crocodile's BW agents never saw. Here were the rooms devoted to the communication Mushis, the meeting rooms, supplies, and the money Crocodile had funneled into his Baroque Works operations.

And somewhere in here was the evidence they needed to stop the war in its tracks. While that aspect really didn't matter to her, it would, as Luffy had said, get them on the king's good side, and that, at this point, she did care about a lot.

Moving out of one storage room, she shook her head, then began to make her way back to the staircase, which could take her further down into the next level. As she was about to step onto the staircase, however, a mass of green goo shot down from the upper level of the stairwell, enveloping her chest before she could blink. It rose up to her throat and solidified there into a band of solid green, choking her as it began to draw her upwards. Her hands pounded futilely at it, but Robin wasn't strong enough to break the candy mass once it solidified like this.

She soon found herself face to face with Gasparde, who smirked evilly at her, his eyes raking up and down her form as she hung in the air in front of him, the green mass around her throat slowly reforming into one of his hands to match the rest of the greenish mass which had lashed out towards her a second ago. "Ah, there you are, little mouse. Still scurrying around? I'd say that shows a remarkable amount of determination, but I can't say much about your survival instincts."

The large man held the somewhat tall Robin in the air effortlessly, turning her this way and that, his mouth forming into a whistle. "Hmm, well, I can see one other reason to keep you around despite the knowledge Crocodile wants. Heh. And he's nowhere in sight, too. So, how about you tell me all about this Pluton weapon? If you do that, maybe we can both get what we want instead of CrocooOOGH!"

That was as far as Gasparde got before a kick took him in the side of the face and sent him flying to smash into the far wall. Through his shock at actually being hit by a physical blow like that, Gasparde looked up to see the same pirate that had been with Robin before.

He now stood where Gasparde had previously been standing, gently helping Robin to her feet, Gasparde's grip around her throat having been broken by his shock at the attack. "Go on, my fair lady! This one is all mine. The day someone made out of food can truly beat a chef is the day I hang up my knives."

Robin nodded, rubbing her throat and angry that there was little she could do to help him. "Good luck, cook-san," she said before racing off, heading around the corridor and out of sight, deeper into Rain Dinners.

By this point Gasparde had recovered, and his arms turned into large needles, which he shot forward like so many spears. Sanji, however, kicked them away, then began to stomp on one of them, using it to run towards the candy man. It was as he did so that Gasparde noticed there seemed to be something on his feet, some kind of white dust scattered all over his shoes and lower legs. He barely dodged a kick that would've smashed into his face, but couldn't dodge the second one, which sent him careening into a wall. He splattered there before pulling his body back together, one hand moving up to rub it his face and nose, which even after reforming looked bruised. "How, how are you doing this?!"

"What, you've never met someone who can hit you before? That's sort of sad. I would've thought the chefs of the Grand Line would know how to deal with upstart condiments like you! Sorry to say, none of my crew seem to be all that interested in candy, otherwise I'd jar and pickle you. As it is, I'm just going to have to put you down for harming the glorious Robin-chan!" Sanji shouted, racing forward and roaring out the last few words, literal fire in his eyes as he did.

Gasparde grunted in pain, then gestured with his hands. They again changed into massive lances of green candy, followed rapidly by far more lances coming from the rest of his body, filling the hallway with spikes as he shot towards Sanji.

Sanji replied by flipping onto his hands and beginning to kick out rapidly, shouting "anti-manner kick course!" Each kick slammed into a different spike, shattering it. Some of them got through, of course, cutting into Sanji here and there, and one of them impacted his head, though thankfully its tip had been shattered, along with the spear of green glop about halfway down it's length. It hit with enough power to make Sanji see stars, but lacked any penetration, and Gasparde couldn't control the splattered bits and pieces of his candy body enough to change that at the last instant.

Seeing the bits and pieces of shattered spears starting to move again, Sanji, bloody forehead and all, pushed off of the ground up to the rooftop. Kicking off of it, he dove down towards Gasparde at speed, feet first. "Flying Mutton Shot!"

This time Gasparde tried to capture the cook's legs, softening his body while also retaining his human form. To his shock, however, Sanji was able to pull his feet back out and flipp up and away before pulling out some kind of small ball filled with white dust. This he threw into the air where he kicked it twice with his feet, covering both his shoes with more white dust. An instant later he slammed them both into Gasparde's face before he could dodge again.

This, however, let Gasparde cover Sanji's hands in the green candy, which hardened into the density of steel, trapping his hands within it. Sanji grunted out, "Tekkai," as Gasparde reeled himself in towards the chef, again his entire body transforming so that spikes of hardened candy appeared everywhere, facing towards Sanji.

 _It's like fighting the Blob,_ Sanji thought, grunting as the spikes impacted, not breaking his skin but rather raking across him. _Guh! I've found one weakness, what about another one of the original Blob? Damn it, think!_

Gasparde hadn't been able to get up enough momentum to break Sanji's iron body technique, and Sanji brought his legs down, thumping them hard in an overhead kick crescent kick to the back of Gasparde's head. Gasparde reeled away, groaning in agony as he clutched his head, his attention diverted as he accidentally pulled all of the green gunk into his body again. This freed Sanji's arms, and he rolled away for a second while hurling several small balls filled with white powder at the man.

They impacted, bursting open as they did, and Gasparde coughed, reeling away slightly as he muttered, "What is this!"

"Flour, you shitty moron!" Sanji shouted, before he quickly flung his lit cigarette into the cloud of flour around Gasparde's head. There was a small explosion as fire flickered all over Gasparde's head, quickly spreading from the flour to his body, which was, it seemed, rather flammable.

Gasparde screamed, batting at his body, trying to put the fire out and failing. He was still trying to when a Mutton Shot slammed with steel crushing force into Gasparde's chest, blowing him back and out the door behind him.

The pirate captain wasn't even able to roll with the punch as desperate he was to stop burning. An instant later he skipped out into the lake by the casino. The water, thankfully for the pirate, put out the fire, but as a Devil Fruit user, Gasparde lost the ability to move his body when it was immersed in water. He quickly began to sink.

Sanji stopped, staring at the lake as several baniwana circled him. While Sanji was still watching they then began to attack the Devil Fruit user, tearing him into pieces. "Well," he said after a moment, putting a new cigarette to his mouth. "At least they don't have to worry about candy rotting their teeth."

 **OOOOOOO**

"Sparkling Daisy!" Mr. 1 shouted, his joined hands opening with a violent move of his arms, the blades of his fingers and palms slashing at Zoro. So powerful was the attack it sent cutting shockwaves through the air as well that sliced both Zoro and the wall of the building behind him, creating perfect slashes through the stone.

Zoro's Tekkai had helped offset some of the damage to him, but not all. He grunted as the blades cut into his skin, slicing here and there into his stomach and chest. "Grah!" _Damn it, I can't hurt him, but he sure as hell can hurt me._

That had been the story of the fight since he had taken out that weird interloper with the ' **X** ' on his face. Zoro was a better swordsman. He could push Mr. 1 around, block his attacks, even hurl him away a few times. But he couldn't actually hurt him. The swords Mr. 1 was made of were steel, not iron, and Zoro had yet to make the leap between the two. In return, his Tekkai had been able to dampen down the wounds he would otherwise have taken to about a fifth of the punch. What would have been debilitating had become the equivalent of scratches.

He could feel his swords becoming angrier and angrier as the fight went on, their well-smelted, caringly crafted steel hammering into a man who dared believe he was their equal in temper. The anger of swords was a very odd feeling, but not a distracting one given Zoro's exercises with the cursed Sendai Kitetsu, though it was still annoying.

"Atomic Spar!" Mr. 1 shouted, slicing his hands, open with his fingers once more turned into swords, towards Zoro.

"Oni-Giri!" Zoro shouted, meeting the attack with his own, smashing most of the attack to either side even as some of the attacks bled through to cut at his body. Since he was moving, Tekkai wasn't an option, and it hurt much worse than previous attacks. His attack broken, Zoro was flung backwards to crash back first into a building.

Mr. 1 didn't let up, popping out blades on his feet and moving forward swiftly as if they were skates while his hands and arms remained in blade form. "Atomic Spurt!"

Zoro reared out of the rubble of the building, his body bloody from several slashes around the chest and shoulders, growling as he stared at the incoming sword-man and knowing that he was seeing his death coming for him. Then something clicked, deep inside him. His connection to Wado Ichimonji cranked up to a new level as he felt calm, almost as if he was meditating. _I can hear it, the beat of steel…the pulse of the world. And anything that exists, that beats…can be cut._

Dropping both his other swords for a moment despite the growl of indignation from the cursed Sendai Kitetsu, he slowly sheathed Wado at his side, closing his eyes. _Breath in the life of the world around you, feel the thing you want to cut, then strike…_

Mr. 1 saw this and frowned. "So you have given up? Very well, I will make this quick!" He shouted, and lashed out with his arms.

"Itoru-iai, Shish-son-song!" Zoro intoned, leaping forwards as Mr. 1 reached him, Wado coming out of its sheath in an instant before being sheathed as Zoro passed Mr. 1's position.

An instant later blood burst out from Mr. 1's chest in a diagonal from hip to shoulder as he slowly turned his head to look at Zoro. "We _…_ well struck. So, so you can cut steel now; what, what's next? Diamond?"

"That would be a waste. Perhaps water next?" Zoro said, turning to stare at his former opponent.

"Heh, very true…" With that Mr. 1 fell to his knees before collapsing forward to land on his face, overcome by the pain of his wound.

Clipping Wado to his side, Zoro picked up his other two blades, sheathing them in turn before pulling off his bandana and taking stock of himself. He was wounded and battered, sure, but still good to go for more, nowhere nearly as wounded as he was against Mihawk. _So, where to go from here?_

Before he could think further on that score, Nami's voice interrupted him. "Oy, Zoro, you finished too?"

"Too? Where the hell have you even been, you sneak thief!?" Zoro shouted back, moving over to the orange-haired girl and wincing somewhat at the massive bruises the girl had on her shoulder and ribs. There was also a wound on her ankle, which looked as if someone had punched a nail right through it. "What the heck happened to you?"

"Ran into Ms. Doublefinger," Nami replied, waving one hand over Zoro's shoulder towards the downed man. "I also ran into your girlfriend and let me tell you, does not have a logical bone in her body! You'd think the idea of teaming up against the most dangerous opponent would have been common sense, but nooo!"

"Yeah, I can see that. Still, let's get out of here for now. Which way is this casino place?" Zoro said, looking a little panicked before pausing as part of what Nami said registered. "And she's not my girlfriend!"

Nami chuckled at that, leaning into Zoro and using him as a crutch as she directed him.

 **OOOOOOO**

Luffy dodged a blow from Crocodile and then had to flinch backwards further as his hand tried to grasp Luffy's shoulder. Sand continued to swirl around them, cutting into Luffy's skin as a portion of Crocodile's attention was kept on moving it around, almost to the level of a sand storm. Even through his body's normal level of durability Luffy felt it, opening up small gashes here and there.

But none of those wounds mattered overmuch so long as Luffy was able to keep away from the strange water-draining attack the Suna-Suna Devil Fruit user had somehow developed. He threw out another Busoshoku enhanced punch, only to watch Crocodile reform his body elsewhere, dodging it entirely. The bastard was just barely able to keep up with Luffy's speed and immediately seemed able to notice which punches were reinforced and which weren't, and he simply moved out of the way of the Haki infused punches.

Luffy had tried twice to also use his jutte. But again Crocodile had dodged around the point of the jutte that was seastone, and reformed his body around it, nearly pulling it out of Luffy's hands. And when Luffy did try to pull the seastone through his reforming body he had instead come apart. The same went with Amiguriken level speeds, whenever Luffy tried a speed attack Croc would throw up a wall of hard sand between them which would slow his attack just enough to gt out of the way. _Bastard has to have some skill in Observation, even if it isn't very much. Fucker!_

Like Luffy, Crocodile was bleeding in a few places and was also holding his side gingerly. Luffy had gotten in several hard Busoshoku punches, and he knew that a few of Crocodile's ribs were broken at the very least. But the bastard was **tough**. And he seemed to be gaining more speed and energy as the fight went on, as if he was getting back into fighting form after taking it easy for too long.

Even as he watched, Crocodile twitched away from another attack, then began to launch his Sables attacks at Luffy where he was still standing in midair. Luffy dodged some and countered others with his own air attacks, but he couldn't dodge them all this time, and one of them slammed into him from below, flipping Luffy end over end. Before he could right himself Crocodile was on him, zooming forward on a cloud of sand and slamming a hand down toward Luffy's chest.

Luffy dodged at the last second, rolling around on the on the ground of the desert as spikes appeared everywhere, cutting into him. At the same time something almost sliced into his eye, cutting his forehead badly despite his body's abnormal toughness. It only took a moment for Luffy to realize that it hadn't been a spike, but rather the hook in Crocodile's hand.

"Hahahah!" Crocodile laughed, pulling the hook back to him, laughing now even as his other hand moved to his side. "You've given me a good fight, Mugiwara! My proverbial hat is off to you! But now it's over! That poison is from the desert snake! A bare scratch can kill an adult elephant in under a minute! You're dead, even if you're still standing upright for now."

"That's right, you bastard," Luffy said, huffing slightly, a smirk on his face despite that. "I'm still standing. And as for your little poison, I guess that just means I'll have to beat you in under a minute!"

Luffy charged forward, his hands turning black up to the elbows, but Crocodile simply stood, smacking his blows aside with his own hands and feet or dodging them as need be, waiting for the poison to do its work. In reply Luffy used his own attacks to remain in the air, no longer using Geppo in favor of staying close and using his legs offensively. Several blows hit home during this time for no return, causing Crocodile to grimace, and after a moment as Luffy continued to press him hard Crocodile began to scowl.

"Heh, I told you, Robin's part of my crew now!" Luffy caroled. "She knew about that little surprise of yours and gave me the antidote earlier! You and your plans, all of your tactics and underhanded tricks, bring them on! I'll beat your best, your every move into the ground, Croc!"

Crocodile snarled and suddenly changed tactics himself, his hand changing into sand to dodge a punch only to reform immediately where it had been after Luffy pulled his punch back, grabbing Luffy right behind where his Busoshoku ended along one arm before he could dodge. He took a blow to the side of the head from Luffy's other hand, but held on long enough to drain all of the water out of Luffy's arm, as well as a portion of his stomach and side.

The blow from Luffy still sent Crocodile reeling backwards, knocking out two of his teeth, which Crocodile idly noted he wouldn't be able to reform. For some reason if a Logia type lost a body part like that to a Busoshoku infused punch they couldn't later reform them. It was as if the Devil Fruit power had been knocked out of those bits of the body.

Even so, and despite the fact that his poison had failed, he had finally been able to nail Luffy with his draining technique and began to laugh. "Cut, beaten, poisoned. Now dried out, and…buried!" he shouted, slamming both of his hands down onto the desert floor. "Let us see you mouth off now, Mugiwara!"

Luffy gasped, rolling around on the ground as he stared at the desiccated arm that Crocodile had touched in horror. As Crocodile was sent reeling away, Luffy quickly began to focus his ki, pushing more of it into the arm in an attempt to somehow heal what Crocodile had done. While wishing to keep his ki abilities a secret even above everything else and only use them when he desperately needed to, this seemed necessary right now. He could feel a sense of being dehydrated filling him as he did so, but it worked, his hand slowly returning to normal under his panicked eyes.

But this kept him still long enough for Crocodile's next attack to take him, burying Luffy in the sand. It was all he could to raise one hand above the sand.

Crocodile stared at the quicksand where Luffy had disappeared save for one hand thrust out of the desert and allowed a wide, victorious smile to appear on his face. "Hah, ahahahah! That, that finally worked! You damn rookie, this, **this** is the true power of the Grand Line! Weep and despair for your crew, for your dreams, because they will all be joining you soon!"

Being buried in quicksand Luffy couldn't hear any of this of course. But the quicksand allowed for just enough movement for him to try and escape. _Ugh, can't believe I'm going to use a strategy from freaking Dragonball of all things! Still, any port in a storm, or whatever it is._ With that Luffy pointed one hand directly down and gathered his remaining ki, noting that healing himself from the draining technique had taken a lot out of him. The Moko Takabasha lashed out and down, the beam of ki acting like a force beam, pushing his body upward out of the sand.

To Crocodile it looked as if Luffy was on top of some kind of energy rocket which carried him up into the air. There he stood, gasping in air even as his blood crusted eyes latched onto Crocodile's. "You, you don't get it, do you, Croc! I told ya, I am the man who will be the Pirate King! I'll take on anything you can dish out and beat you down! This is the end for you and your ambitions!"

Even as he said that Luffy knew he was in trouble. His ki was fading fast by this point, the effort of overcoming the draining technique had in turn drained his ki reserves, and he knew it wouldn't be long before he would lose the ability to use Busoshoku.

"You foolish, foolish brat, you. How dare you say that to me?!" Do you have any idea who I am?! What I have done, sacrificed, and built to get this far?! This sea, this sea **eats** dreams like yours!" Crocodile roared angrily, charging forward.

Luffy met him, the jutte out and thrusting, while his other hand glowed. Even as Crocodile moved around the jab from the jutte his observation haki screamed at him, as Luffy launched several small balls of blue energy at Crocodile. Each one struck a different part of his body, and such was the surprise of them and dealing with the Jutte at the same time two got through, smashing with drop-hammer force into his side and thigh.

In reply however Luffy took several blows, one of which smashed into his hand hard enough to make him lose his grip on his jutte. Luckily none of the attacks Crocodile launched were of the draining variety, or else Luffy might well have lost the fight then and there. Instead they were the Sables attacks, heavy blades of sand slashing at and into Luffy.

The attacks cut into Luffy here and there including his foot but more importantly Luffy took another gash along his face, nearly catching his ey. But he had dodged just enough to avoid that. Reeling from the impact, Luffy blinked as something about it caught his attention, it wasn't as even as it should have been. The attack, it dissipated when it hit my forehead, but why… no, it can't be that simple can it?

Having nothing to lose, Luffy decided to chance it. At this point it was either trying this or using the Loud Thief technique, his ki was draining too fast dealing with his wounds after that water absorption attack. So Luffy swiped the backs of his hands through the blood on his face, then concentrated his Busoshoku on defense, taking the next few attacks to launch his own. This and his rage seemed to have blinded Crocodile's ability to use Observation Haki, and the next few punches got through to impact Crocodile's body before he could dodge.

For a second Crocodile wondered why the hell Luffy's no-longer reinforced punches were hitting him, only to stare in shock. _His blood. He's using his blood from all his wounds! How did he?!_

"I don't care who the fuck you are!" Luffy shouted, slamming his badly bleeding foot up into Crocodile's chin, flinging him backwards. "I am the man who will surpass you!" The same foot came back and slammed into Crocodile's chest, while his hand smashing Crocodile's claw away so hard the metal shattered. "I will be the Pirate King!"

" **You fucking brat!"** Crocodile roared, trying to bring his power to bear again in the form of sand formed into scimitars to cut into Luffy. But Luffy smashed several of them with his still blood covered hands, letting the others hit while using one of them to push himself into air. Leaping forward over several more, Luffy lashed out with another series of punches.

But this was in fact a feint, as at the last moment Luffy used Soru, which he hadn't used up to this point often, to zoom over to grab up the Jutte from the sand. Before the enraged Crocodile could realize what was happening the point of the Jutte found his throat, impacting with crushing force.

"Guhhh," Crocodile gasped, trying to raise his hands up to touch his throat, but with Luffy holding the jutte there, he couldn't dissipate it into sand, as blood began to flow down from his open, gasping mouth to coat both the end of the jutte and his throat. Luffy pulled the jutte back and Crocodile fell to his knees, scrabbling at his throat to clear the blood, and never even saw a Luffy's fist coming back, flickering black with the last of Luffy's Busoshoku, crushing Crocodile's skull.

With that, Luffy backed away staring at Crocodile's body for a moment before shaking his head and stumbling away, almost going to one knee, such was his exhaustion, the jutte falling out of his nerveless hands. This was how Robin found him, hands coming out of the desert around him to grasp Luffy and hold him upright as she ran towards him.

"That was impressive," she said lightly, her tone belying her appraising glance and the surprising amount of happiness in her body language. She put Luffy's arm around her shoulders, one of her own arms around his waist and began to drag him towards the town. "Come on, I think the Marines are getting reorganized. We need to get out of here."

"The, the evidence?" Luffy muttered, his free hand coming up to wipe blood away from his mouth. He was covered with tiny to large gashes here and there, at least one of his ribs was cracked, and he felt as if one of his knees was dislocated, with numerous tendons and muscle groups battered. "You'll need to end the conflict between the royals and rebels before Cobra will probably let you see the pony-thing."

"I already found some and removed it from Rain Dinners," Robin replied, smiling slightly at how much concern Luffy was showing her desire to see the Rio Poneglyph hidden somewhere in this country. She first explained how she and Sanji had nearly been caught, and Gasparde's past and his being present, before explaining how Sanji had saved her earlier.

"After that, I was able to investigate the rest of the casino without further interruptions. I dropped a few bags of Dance Powder off in front of a few marines, as well as took some for ourselves to use as evidence for the Rebel Army. I believe Nami was also going to find the local communication system and use that to get the word out even faster, the bit about Crocodile being the one to use Dance Powder, that is. As Vivi said, if anything will turn the people of this country against Crocodile, the ownership of Dance Powder will, along with his connection to Baroque Works."

"Of course, explaining Crocodile's connection to Baroque Works will take quite a bit longer than simply shouting out that he has Dance Powder, let alone that he has been using both sides against one another in this conflict." She was rambling, Robin knew. But the sight of Luffy so injured had worried her, for reasons that she did not wish to contemplate just yet.

She was surprised, however, when Luffy's arm tightened around her shoulders. "Wait," he said. "How are you for _…_ , that is, can you still concentrate on your power with those wounds?"

"Easily, why?" Robin asked, looking at him quizzically from a few inches away. For some reason her heart began to thump quicker as she looked into Luffy's eyes.

Luffy winked at her, gesturing over his shoulder to Crocodile. "You know what happens when a Devil Fruit user dies?"

"I believe his Devil Fruit reforms almost immediately in the nearest fruit…" Robin paused, then smiled somewhat evilly at Luffy. "You truly are quite a bit more intelligent than most would give you credit for. Are you thinking of taking it for yourself?"

"Probably not, no," Luffy said with a chuckle. "It's not my kind of power. But maybe one of the others will want it. If not, then, well, we've called Vivi the desert princess a time or two."

"Ah a pun, or play on words," Robin groaned, before gently pushing Luffy away from her and crossing her arms over her chest, her eyes closing to better help her concentration. Rows of hands moved from where she was standing towards the town, halting there, to be replaced by eyes on random surfaces, causing a bit consternation among a few people who saw them.

Robin ignored that, searching out any fruit wherever it might be. When she found them she left the eyes looking at them in place as she allowed the others to dissipate swiftly, making the people who had spotted them wonder if they had been seeing things.

The only ones who saw the random eyeballs were a few of the Marines, who had no idea what they were. Moreover, Zoro and fighting the BW agents in the town had put at least two-thirds of the Marines present out of action for a time, even if Zoro had gone out of their way to not kill any of them.

A moment later Robin's scattered eyes found what she was looking for. A regular looking jujube fruit, one of many on a plate set on a kitchen table in a random house in town slowly started to change, growing quite a bit and changing from having green skin to something that looked almost sandy looking, with swirls of what looked like wind going over its surface. _That must be it, unless…_

"I found it, but could it not be Mr. 1's or Gasparde's if Sanji and Zoro have dealt with them as you did Crocodile?" she asked.

To that Luffy shrugged. "If Zoro killed that 1 guy, maybe. I don't know if he did or not, same thing for Gasparde. For now grab it and see if you can get it to the nearest crewman."

That turned out to be Nami, who was leaning against and being leaned on in turn by Sanji. Nami had recently found the local public Den-Den Mushi system and used it to blare out that Crocodile had been using Dance Powder and that he had been involved in starting the rebellion, before exiting the house via an upper story window as Marines raced in to look for her. She had found Sanji making his slow way out of the town, using a disguise once more, but his side was badly slowing him down.

Now a hand appeared on Nami's unoccupied shoulder, waving right in front of her face to get her attention. Nami's head reared back for a moment as she gawked at the limb, shaking her head. "W, what the!"

Then she watched as another hand took something another hand handed to it on top of one of the nearby rooftops before hurling it down towards her. Nami reflexively caught it, and then looked at the bizarre looking fruit. "What the heck…."

Robin's hand flashed a thumbs-up to her, and then dissipated into numerous flower petals, and Sanji shrugged. "I think she wants you to take it Nami-chan."

"That's fine I suppose," Nami said, putting the fruit into her a pouch hanging off her belt, finding that it barely fit. "Though I have to wonder what the heck it is. For now, though, let's get the hell out of here."

Still standing next to Luffy outside the town Robin frowned. "Should I direct Zoro to us or send him towards the others?"

"Which is closest and easiest?" Luffy said, allowing exhaustion to take him for a moment as he slumped down to sit next to Robin, actually leaning against her leg for a moment as he stared into the town with bleary, blood-crusted eyes. Robin felt that, and cracked one eye open, looking down at him before smiling slightly and answering his question. "Sanji and Nami, easily."

"Do it," he ordered, his voice still strong despite his wounds and his exhaustion. _Heck, even my ki-healing isn't healing me as fast as it should._ "And then we'll have to figure out a way to get out of here before the bloody Marines are able to reorganize. Unless I miss my guess, none of us are really up to another fight."

"I would be willing to do so, I suppose," Robin said amusingly. "Though I would not be able to do anything about Smoker, and since we have hidden my involvement with you it would be a bad idea to let it come out now."

"Definitely making Busoshoku a priority with you Robin," Luffy said with a faint chuckle.

Just then they were interrupted by a loud donkey noise, and Eyelashes trotted towards them around the outskirts of the town. It was leading several dozen ducks of some kind that reminded Luffy of Carue. "What the heck?"

"There's a message tied to that lead duck's saddle," Robin said clinically after opening her eyes and spotting that immediately. "I've directed Nami towards us, and Zoro towards Nami and Sanji. They just came within sight of one another."

By the time the three other Straw Hat members arrived, Robin had helped Luffy up into the saddle of the lead duck. He had slumped over, keeping his eyes open with difficulty. "What the hell took you so long?" he grunted.

Zoro shrugged. "These two kept on getting lost."

He flinched as Nami smacked him upside the head. "What the hell do you mean **we** kept on getting lost, you katana-baka!"

"Get it right, you national treasure!" Sanji shouted Zoro's other ear. "You kept on turning around whenever we looked away for a brief second! How the hell can you get lost six times in the space of three blocks!?"

"Doesn't matter," Luffy said, cutting in and interrupting the byplay while Robin chuckled, pulling herself into one of the other saddles. "Vivi sent these," she explained at Nami's quizzical look. "She thought we might need a ride to Alubarna, as well as away from any Marine presence we might run into. She says there is a Marine presence there too, so we'll have to be careful when we arrive."

"That's fine," Nami sighed, pulling herself up into a saddle and wincing. From there she urged her duck over toward Luffy, whereupon she smacked him upside the head as hard as she could.

"OW! What the hell Nami, I'm injured already! What was that for?" Luffy asked, touching the back of his head. _What is it with anger making women stronger anyway?_

"That was for forcing me to fight damn it! I ran into one hell of a strong enemy out there and I almost died a dozen times!" Nami growled.

Seeing Luffy's suddenly worried and crestfallen expression Nami sighed, calming down noticeably. "Nevermind, I'll tell you more as we go. Right now, I just want to get the hell away from these marines, get all of us some first aid, I think and then maybe hide out in the desert for a while as the heat dies down, resting all the while."

"That's not a bad idea, though I don't know if it will work very well," Robin said, shaking her head. "Now that they know for certain we're still here, the Marines will simply stop searching for us in favor of creating a cordon around the island. With that done, they will simply wait for us to come to them."

"Cordons can be broken," Luffy said, smirking slightly even through his injuries and his exhaustion, though now that his adrenaline was gone he knew he had at least two broken bones in his side and a broken thigh bone too. "Smoker alone isn't much of a challenge. Taking both him and that other one, Hina? Taking them both on at the same time, that could be more fun."

Zoro nodded as did Sanji, while Nami shook her head. "Only you would say that that kind of challenge would be fun," she said as her duck took the lead, racing over the sand faster than even Eyelashes had been able to run from that one sandstorm.

"By the way?" Nami said, looking over at first Robin then Luffy. "What the heck is up with this weird fruit?"

"It's Crocodile's," Luffy said, not offering any further explanation.

Sanji and Nami both blinked, staring at Luffy, then down at Nami's waist and the pouch there. "You, you can't be serious?!"

"Serious as a heart attack," Luffy said wearily. "Now let me sleep, would you?"

Zoro snorted a laugh, shaking his head. "A month and a half on the Grand Line and already we've taken out a Shichibukai and his illegal criminal organization. What are you going to do for an encore, Captain?"

Luffy chuckled too, but didn't open his eye again as he smirked. "Call up the Yonkou Whitebeard for no other reason than shooting the breeze. Would that do you?"

In reply Zoro let out a guffaw, while the others all looked at one another and rolled their eyes.

 **OOOOOOO**

Smoker stared down at the Shichibukai Crocodile's dead body, shaking his head slowly as if he wasn't quite certain he believed what he was seeing. _Luffy left him for the crows. He left me alive but killed a Shichibukai. And that woman's voice over the public announcement system... And then there's the body of that damn mutineer Gasparde, allied with Crocodile from what little we know. And that's the thing, isn't it? We don't know what the_ _ **fuck**_ _has been going on here. We need answers, about the Straw Hats involvement, about the princess's place in it all, and most importantly, what Crocodile was really up to._ Without looking away from the body he asked, "Have we found more Dance Powder?"

"That and more," Tashigi replied wearily. "We've found evidence above and beyond the ownership of illegal substances: notes, books, and reams of paper. The men are still looking through it. But…that pirate girl seems to have told the truth. Crocodile was connected to Baroque Works, and, well, with his ownership of so much Dance Powder we can't say that they were lying about his being behind the entire revolution here. We have also captured Daz Bones, the famous assassin, his partner, and recovered what remains of the pirate Gasparde and his first mate."

"Call Hina. Ask her what's going on over in the capital and then order her to pull out her troops and meet us here. We'll take a full day to go over all the evidence here. I'll lead a crew out to take Gasparde's ship and its crew. When I return we'll call it in to HQ," Smoker ordered.

While normally Smoker would have guffawed at the very idea of his needing direction or advice from the higher-ups, some things were too big for him to handle. The death of a Shichibukai was one of them. Especially the death of a Devil Fruit user, whose fruit might well have been taken by the crew which had killed him.

 _At least, I would assume so. That was that devil child Nico Robin's power just then, though how she became involved with a crew of rookies or why is beyond me. Regardless, the Suna-Suna fruit is a Logia type, and the WG hates Logia types out of its control. So while the Straw Hats might have done what we couldn't have and saved this country and taken out Crocodile, the targets on their backs just grew massively,_ Smoker thought, anger and bitterness warring within him at the thought.

 **OOOOOOO**

It took the ducks half a day to cover the distance between Rain Dinners and Alubarna, a speed that was frankly phenomenal, even if they were just running in neutral. Once there they ran into Pell surveying the area around the capital. The falcon type Zoan quickly landed with Chopper on his back.

The little reindeer nearly bawled at the sight of all of their wounds. "Ahh, you're all injured! Doctor, we need a doctor!"

"Ain't that you little guy?" Luffy asked quizzically.

"Ah. Yeah." Chopper stopped panicking and immediately pulled his doctor's bag off his back and raced over to Zoro. Of all of them, Zoro looked the worst for wear, with Luffy tied as a close second. Though upon examination Chopper would find the it was Sanji who had the single worst wound.

As Chopper went to work, Luffy cocked a still blood encrusted eyebrow at Pell. Some of his wounds had healed by this point thanks to his ki healing ability, others hadn't. "Vivi and Makino, are they okay?"

"They are fine," the falcon man said, grasping Luffy's forearm tightly. "If not for Chopper and Makino, however, things would've gone much differently here." From that Pell explained what had happened, both in Alubarna and with him and Vivi when they went to meet the Rebel Army. Beyond that, Chaka had eventually found King Cobra hidden in a secret cellar in the basement of an inn on the outskirts of the capital. Once within the building even the smells of a busy inn had been unable to fool the Jackal's senses.

"But there are still Marines in Alubarna moving around; they haven't been called off just yet," Pell cautioned. "Their captain says they will be leaving soon, however, so you're going to have to wait out here until late this evening. Don't worry though; we've already prepared rooms and are secretly preparing a massive feast for you all."

"That's fine," Luffy said, his eyes cutting over towards Robin. "But we also need to talk to the king."

"Of course," Pell said with a nod. "He wishes to talk to you all as well. Anything for the saviors of both his nation and his daughter.

 **OOOOOOO**

It was a properly bandaged and cared for group of pirates that were slowly welcomed into the palace that evening. The Marines had left as Pell had said they would, though Luffy had seen a flash of pink hair among them which made him very thankful indeed that they had waited. Battered as he was right now, he had no wish to tangle with another Marine captain.

While the others were shown quickly into different rooms and given new clothing and robes to wear to the dinner that evening, Robin and Luffy were ushered into a private sitting room with the king and Vivi. Vivi threw herself out of her chair, hurtling towards Luffy and hugging him tightly. "You did it! You did it! I hoped you could, but you really did it!"

Luffy grunted a little as the younger girl slammed into him, putting his arms around her in a hug of his own. "Easy there, Vivi! I'm a wounded warrior, I am," he said somewhat teasingly. A lot of his wounds had already faded, but many of the worst ones were still there, his body not having enough energy to heal them just yet, and he knew he looked a fright.

To one side Robin chuckled, and Vivi looked at her, backing away after nodding at the other woman.

"My daughter speaks for us all," Cobra said softly, looking at the two of them, though his eyes lingered on Nico Robin. "…You keep strange company for the savior of my nation, but I am not one who will look a gift camel in the mouth. You helped my daughter, you helped my nation, and you staved off what would've been a bloodbath. For all of this you have my thanks. Any boon you ask for will be granted so long as it is within my power to grant."

"Where are the rebels?" Luffy asked quizzically.

"Many of them have returned home to their bases for now. They will disperse in time," Cobra replied. "Others have moved into the town here to meet with myself and the Marine representative that will be arriving within a few days. The Marines have called in special WG investigators to go over some of the evidence that you discovered in Rain Dinners. There is a great deal of consternation in the World Government and the Marines with the death of Crocodile."

The king sighed, shaking his head. "I would have liked to ask you to stay here for a few days, but if you do that more Marines will arrive. They will swiftly have enough troops to search my country from one side to the other for you and also to throw up a cordon around the island that you will never escape."

Luffy shrugged his shoulders even as Vivi flinched slightly. "We weren't planning to stay for more than just this one night anyway. A bath and a good night's sleep, some food and water for the road, and that will do us, Cobra."

Chaka scowled at the lack of formality, but Cobra smiled. "Hahaha, that we can do! But I understand from Pell that the two of you wanted to speak to me?"

Looking around at the servants in view and the two guardsmen Luffy shook his head. "This is probably something best spoken about with only you and Vivi here. At least I assume that's how you've tried to keep the secret."

Cobra frowned at that, but shrugged his shoulders. "Very well, if you think we must." He gestured and Chaka scowled again, but obeyed following Pell and the servants out of the room quickly.

The moment the door was closed, Robin crossed her arms, "With your permission?"

Luffy nodded before Cobra could, and Vivi and Cobra watched as Robin's powers slowly went to work around them, making sure there was no one listening in. She eventually nodded, then looked at the king. "Your Majesty. For my aid in this, for turning against Crocodile, Luffy promised to get me an audience with you. What I need is access to the Rio Poneglyph hidden somewhere on this island, presumably somewhere in Alubarna. I do not know exactly where it is. Crocodile had discovered that and kept that from me successfully. I **must** have access to it," she reiterated, her eyes nearly gleaming with obsessive furor.

The king blanched. "Even, even if it is for our saviors. I know…who you are, Nico Robin," Cobra muttered, staring between the two pirates. "I…that secret… I…"

Luffy tensed, his eyes narrowing. While he had no wish to hurt Cobra, he had made Robin a promise and if he had to kidnap the king and somehow force him to tell them what they wanted to know, he would. He wouldn't torture the man, but there were other ways to get him to talk. _Holding him upside down from two miles in the air for one._

Seeing this and correctly interpreting how far Luffy would go to keep his promise, Vivi cut in quickly. "Father, please. Robin helped us quite a bit. Moreover, she doesn't want to read the instructions for the weapon that Crocodile was after. She is after something else entirely. Robin?"

Robin nodded, speaking up for herself. "I have no interest in Crocodile's goal. I believe that the Poneglyph in question will contain something else entirely: the history of the Void Century."

"What!?" Cobra's eyes widened as he reared back in shock, his mouth gaping. "You, you mean the Void Century, the history from that time is, it is still written somewhere out there? Then, then… why…"

"Exactly!" Vivi replied, though she didn't quite understand why that concept shocked her father so much. Then again, she had had no knowledge of the Void Century at all before Robin had explained it as part of her discussion with Luffy and the crew. "And if it is simply history, what will it hurt for that to be known? And, on the other hand, if it is only this weapon that Crocodile is after, do we really need to keep it hidden here?"

Cobra looked at his daughter, then smiled faintly. "You show great wisdom, daughter. That is true." He looked back over at Robin. "…You will not find what you are seeking on that rock. Indeed, the very idea that you could is odd to me. But if you are not in fact after the design for Pluton, I will show it to you tonight. But I ask you to either erase it from the stone or otherwise get rid of it, please. My daughter is right, such weapons should never see the light of day **ever** again."

"Agreed!" Robin said instantly, making Luffy breathe a discrete sigh of relief as Vivi did the same visibly. "I have no interest in the weapon. Only knowledge of the past interests me."

"Then wait here for a moment. I will return, and I will show all three of you where it is right now." A few moments later Vivi and Cobra returned dressed to blend in. Now in disguise, they led the two pirates out of the palace by a side entrance, which allowed them get out into the town unhindered. The town was still mostly empty, the inhabitants of Alubarna not having been allowed back just yet. Robin occasionally used her powers to make certain they were not being observed or followed, and twice warned them of people in their way, but Cobra was easily able to navigate them around and into the Royal Cemetery which was set at one edge of the town plateau.

Once there he moved forward quickly, finding a single statue out of the multitude and touching it in such a way that he was able to push in the nose, revealing an entrance leading downward. He held his hand there for a moment before nodding to the others following after him.

"Will this close behind us?" Luffy asked.

"Yes, once I remove my hand this will start closing. I will have to open it once more on our way out," Cobra said, and the other three passed him quickly.

Once inside Cobra touched a few more places on the wall, pressing different rocks here and there, which he said would deactivate a few traps along their way. From there he led them through a short corridor into an open area, dominated by a massive stone square built into one wall and two large statues set to either end the space. The stone was of a very different material than the rest of the rock around it, looking almost like iron or concrete mixed together somehow, with the sheen of iron, but the look of concrete otherwise. Whatever it was, it was probably some kind of super dense stone. And on its front were tiny intricate words covering it from one corner down to the other.

"Robin, it's your show now," Luffy said, holding out the torch to her. As he did, Cobra and Vivi followed, watching closely.

Robin nodded, slowly exhaling as she stepped forward, her eyes locked with feverish intensity on the rock even as she went around and lit up several ancient looking torches set into the walls all around the room. Once she was satisfied with the light, she eagerly moved back to the rock and began to read.

As Luffy watched, Robin's face went from eager and interested to disappointed within one line. She read through the entire thing, but by the end the life had gone out of Robin's eyes to a degree that alarmed Luffy. Her face had closed down to a disturbing level too, and she slumped where she stood.

 _It's not here. Nothing is here but the plans for Pluton! Nothing, no hint on the Void Century, no knowledge of the past, even of the kings of this country, no hint where to go next, nothing! I, this was… What have I been... Is my life really cursed?_ Robin thought, staring at the stone and feeling a small knife she always kept at the small of her back just in case and wondering if she should just slice her own throat. _No one would miss me after all, and I don't have anything to live for any longer. Perhaps the world would even be better off without me._

Robin's spiral down into depression was interrupted by a hand grasping her wrist. It was gentle that grip, yet also inescapable, steel covered by skin. It was only at that gently unescapable touch that Robin realized she had actually pulled the knife out of its hidden sheath. "I take it that what you were looking for isn't there?" Luffy's voice asked, his voice calm yet oddly compassionate.

"Let me do it," Robin said, her voice desolate, so grief-stricken and beaten that Luffy couldn't hold back a wince. "Please, I have nothing left to live for! My ambition, my dream, has been my curse for so long. I've, I've done such horrible things in order to survive, in order to see it through, and now, it's all for nothing!"

"Now that's just stupid," Luffy said bluntly, causing Robin to finally turn at him, actually glaring at him now for seemingly making fun of her grief. But as he went on that look faded somewhat. "Yer one of my nakama, Robin official member of my crew or not. I'm not gonna let you make a mistake like that, not without trying to talk you out of it, anyway. If after we talk ya still want to kill yourself, well it ain't my place to stop you, though don't think for a second you wouldn't be missed, at least by me. And Makino too. Oh, and Sanji too, I suppose."

Robin chuckled wanly, shaking her head. "You, you don't understand. This, this was supposed to be the Rio Poneglyph. It should have contained the history of the Void Century I've been searching for, the goal I have sacrificed everything for, my happiness, my dignity, my morality, everything! And it isn't. Without that, with my dream dead right in front of me I, I don't want to live anymore. I am so tired of the whole world being against my dream."

Cocking his head thoughtfully, Luffy retained his grip on Robin's wrist as he stared into her eyes. Her hand tried to jerk out of his grip, but Luffy felt that that was an unconscious gesture on Robin's part. "Have you been everywhere in the world?"

"What?" Robin asked, blinking at the apparent non-sequitur.

"Have you been everywhere in the world? Cause I have ta tell you, if you have it's kind of mean of you not to mention that little fact to Nami, given her own dream," Luffy said, keeping his voice deliberately light as he spoke.

"No, but what…"

"Then, how do you know the Rio Poneglyph doesn't exist somewhere else?" Luffy asked, interrupting her. "Just because this didn't lead to it doesn't mean it isn't out there somewhere. Or else you would never have even heard of it in the first place."

"I…" Robin thought for a moment, and some of the flame came back into her eyes, though not a lot. "That, that might be true, but, but where do I begin to look for clues? Where do I go from here? I am so, so tired of it all. Of always running, of always being seen as a demon, of being hounded for merely living." _For living on when I, like the rest of Ohara, was supposed to die under the Buster Call._

"Have I ever looked at you like that? Has my crew? As for where you go from here, there you're just like the rest of us. You put one foot forward and keep your eyes open for clues. We're already going to be traveling the entire world both to reach Raftel and to achieve Nami's dream of making a map of the whole damn place anyway. Somewhere you'll find a clue," Luffy responded.

As Robin's eyes widened at the implication, Luffy went on, his eyes hardening. "And if anyone calls you a demon they'll have to answer to this one! Existing isn't a crime, no matter what anyone else says, no matter who the fuck they are!" This wasn't the first time Luffy had heard of a child being hounded for simply living, after all. The story Ace had told him and Sabo about his mother, Portgas D. Rouge, still horrified Luffy to this day.

"I, I cannot… That is…" Robin stuttered to a halt, all her arguments dying under the intensity and determination in Luffy's gaze, as well as the warmth there. Just like onboard the _Resolve_ she felt a flicker of something, only this time it wasn't a flicker but a bright little flame, and she could identify it too. Hope, it was hope. Hope that she had possibly found a place to really belong, nakama like Saul had told her about.

 _And honestly, Robin,_ the analytical side of her mind thought, _it isn't as if having me on the crew will add any more to the target on their backs at this point. Luffy did kill a Shichibukai after all. That is not to mention Sanji's killing Gasparde. So honestly, what do I have to lose here? What do I have to lose by believing in this hope I feel? In the, the welcome I see in those eyes of his?_

Slowly, Robin let go of the knife in her hand, letting it fall to the floor. As Luffy let her wrist go, she grasped his hand in hers, their fingers twining around one another as she smiled at him. "Very well, Captain-san. I suppose you have yourself a crew member."

Luffy grinned so widely that it looked as if his face stretched to hold it. At the same time his hand, calloused and thin but muscled and powerful, gently squeezed hers, sending a shiver of an entirely different emotion through Robin's body. "Welcome aboard, Robin."

 **End Chapter**

* * *

Burgess—the guy with the X on his face—and Gasparde are from the movie Dead End Adventure - number 4 i think. I wanted to give Sanji a real chance to shine, since I have used him as comedy relief several times before this. I did however switch his and Croc's bounties.

I know that not putting in Makino's fight in this chapter is a cop out, but I just utterly blanked every time I tried to write it. I wanted to write it occurring inside an actual room and then out into the hallway, but for some reason I just couldn't picture the setting or how it would impact the fight. It will appear in the next chapter as a flashback.

I also know that this leaves the aftermath of the action to go really, but I decided that it and the escape from Alabasta could serve as a decent wrap up of this serious stuff before i head into a two week training montage/character interaction time before they arrive at Jaya.

I hope you all enjoyed it and have a Merry Christmas.


	13. Absolute Denied

Oda and Takashi are not my names.

This has been edited by Tomon and Hiryo. Neither are dedicated small mistake guys, but hopefully between the three of us we've kept the mistakes to a minimum.

Here is the next chapter of Stallion of the Line.

This is the newest chapter of Stallion of the Line, and it is one I am posting here for the first time. My Patty R on fans have not seen this first, though they will also see it over there. From now on however, this story will show up in the monthly small story poll here on fanfic. It is replaced over there by Making Waves, my Ranma/Fairy Tail crossover, which has two chapters now. If you want to see this story continued be on the lookout for the small story poll replacing the SW crossover poll on my profile here on fanfic tomorrow. As always if you want more of a say in what stories you see, please think about joining us over on Patty R on.

to the Guest who has gone out of his way to spot mistakes: thank you! I will have time tomorrow i hope to go over the past chapters and make those corrections.

Further canon divergence ahoy!

* * *

 **Chapter 13: Absolute Denied**

With Cobra once more leading the way, the two royals and two pirates made their way back to the palace in silence. There was a slight smile on Luffy's face as he walked next to Robin. While he knew he should feel bad that Robin hadn't found what she was looking for, Luffy was happy with the fact that he had convinced her that she still had things to live for and that in turn had convinced Robin to join his crew.

At the same time while Robin was not smiling she was at least dry-eyed. Further, she was standing somewhat closer to Luffy then she had to as they were walking back to the palace. Occasionally because they were so close, their hands would touch, though neither noticed.

Walking behind them Vivi did and for some reason it was giving her very mixed feelings. She watched the two of them, her eyes tracking down whenever their hands touched but the group made it back to the palace without incident. They even managed to sneak inside and were halfway to the rooms assigned to the Straw Hats before they ran into anyone. Of course, the individual they ran into was possibly the worst they could have chosen for being discreet about their absence.

"Your Majesty! What is this?! I get back here and you and the Princess are nowhere to be found?! Is this how you run a palace?! I've already demanded Pell and Chaka's resignations for not knowing where you went." Bellowed the newly returned Igaram, looking somewhere between frothing fury and tears of joy at seeing his king and princess.

Before the coiffed man could continue he was nearly bowled over by Vivi hugging him tightly. "You really are alive! Robin said you were, but we couldn't stop to look for you. I'm so happy to see you!"

The captain of the guard's grumpy expression melted slightly, and he patted her head fondly. "Yes well, it was a rather harrowing experience, sailing the Grand Line on my own like that. However, with the Eternal Pose to Alabasta and the supplies I was able to purloin from your pirate ship, I was able to make it safely."

The captain of the guard was interrupted in turn at that point by a blur slamming into the back of his head, sending him hurling over Vivi's head to land in a heap. Before he could try to get to his feet, he was grabbed by Sanji and Makino who had heard his words having just come out of the Straw Hats rooms.

Sanji wore an utterly enraged expression, his lips twisted into a snarl, "You bastard, stealing from us! I knew there was something off with our supplies, I thought it was that damn duck!"

Makino looked just as angry, though her anger was more based on the issues the crew had run into because of the lack of supplies rather than anger at the actual theft. "Do you any idea how much trouble you caused us!? Are you prepared to make up the times we went hungry out of your own hide!?"

"Now, now," Cobra said, trying to placate them while Vivi looked on, beginning to giggle as Robin did the same. To one side Luffy had already devolved into cackling laughter.

A few minutes later, they all joined the rest of the crew in the room they had been assigned. The king and Igaram had just left them, and Luffy was about to address the crew when the door opened, showing in several maids carrying bundles of clothing.

While Sanji began to smile and dance around them, he stopped abruptly, his face turning into one of horror as the last maid entered. Luffy simply blinked in shock at the woman backing away quickly because to his horror Igaram stood there once more in drag. "So you really did have an ulterior motive to dressing up like the Princess."

Zoro shuddered too, while Makino blanched, and Nami grabbed Chopper and backed away.

"Oh, no, you're wrong," Vivi said with a laugh. "This isn't Igaram, this is his wife Terracotta. She is chief maid and cook here in the palace."

"There's got to be a limit to how much a married couple can look alike," Nami and Luffy said as one, before laughing and smacking their shoulders together.

"I will be in charge of cooking for tomorrow night's feast, and also as chief maid wanted to be certain your clothing for the event were ready, so I wanted to stop by and make certain we had all your sizes. I thought yours was wrong at first miss, a girl your age being as… blessed is a surprise, but looking at you I can see it." Terracotta replied, looking at Nami.

Nami preened a little at that, while Luffy chuckled, fighting a blush from his face with sheer willpower as he kept his eyes on Terracotta rather than staring down at the 'blessed' area in question.

Besides Sanji, who swooned around Nami praising her figure, the others looked on as the head maid continued to speak. "Other than that Doctor, are you going to be attending in that form? I understand you are a Zoan type like our own Chaka and Pell, but one whose size changes more than they do?"

"Er, yes," Chopper said hesitantly, staring at the woman, his own face showing none of the shock the others had felt at her appearance but a bit of curiosity of his own. _Is that hair real? It isn't moving at all when she speaks._

"Excellent, then I'll be leaving you for now. Unless any of you have any allergies? As Hime-sama said, I'll be in charge of cooking the royal banquet tomorrow night." The middle-aged woman winked at Vivi. "It's a pity that handsome Kohza fellow won't be able to join us this isn't it? You could talk about old times together~~."

Vivi however surprised her by simply laughing and shaking your head. "I have no idea why you and the other maids always thought Kohza and I were a couple. We're just old friends."

Sanji and Luffy exchanged a glance wincing as one as Luffy leaned over whispering, "That is the harshest example of being friend-zoned I've ever heard."

Sanji nodded wordlessly then Luffy began to shoo the maids out of the room. "Thank you for your consideration, but none of us have allergies and if you don't mind the crew wants a bit of time alone thank you, we can get dressed on our own. We're all big boys and girls, out, out please."

Once the servants had left, rather huffily in one or two cases and with Sanji moaning about at least letting the maids stay, Luffy turned to Robin. "Check for eavesdroppers?"

Nodding Robin closed her eyes, conjuring up a few eyes out in the hallway on the ceiling, looking down and into the rooms all around the series of interconnected rooms they had been assigned. She looked into the rooms below them as well mindful of secret listening holes, before she pulled back her powers with a second nod. "We're clear."

With that, she removed her hat, and the scarf that she had been the using as they walked through the palace and streets to hide her identity. They had done a decent job of making certain that no one connected the Straw Hat Pirates with 'Demon Child Niko Robin and she saw no need to tempt fate at this late date.

"Okay gang," Luffy said looking around at the others. "You all know the deal we made with Robin to help us against Croc and his crew. Well, it turns out that the Rio Poneglyph she was looking for actually isn't here. We've talked, and she's decided to formally join our crew as a permanent member."

Sanji cheered, throwing his hands in the air. "Excellent recruitment Luffy!"

Robin smiled at them all, grateful that Luffy had made no mention of her breakdown, leaving it to her to describe what she wished of it. Which, she was honestly surprised to admit was more than a bit. "I thought that the Rio Poneglyph was here, I had thought my life would be fulfilled if I found it. But it is not here, and I… she paused then plunged on. "I had almost thought to end it all."

Nami reached out, grasping Robin's hand in hers as the others nodded, with Chopper going so far as to rush over to give Robin's leg a hug. Sanji too looked as if he would have gone for a hug, but thought better of it as the serious nature of her words sunk in.

After squeezing Nami's hand Robin smiled at them all, her other hand dropping down to rest on Chopper's purple top hat. "Your captain however convinced me otherwise, and I demanded that he take responsibility for that hence my joining your crew permanently."

Robin wouldn't tell them why she had thought about ending her life, not yet. She would not tell them about how she had lived, the World Government after her from such a young age, constantly betrayed and betraying in turn, never settling down with a crew for long, never having friends, never being allowed to let her guard down without paying for it. Robin would not tell them that she had long thought that perhaps the world would truly be a better place without her and the knowledge she carried in her head. She might eventually trust them all with that information, but such things were too personal to share right away, and frankly Robin was feeling rather emotionally drained as it was.

Nami and Makino smiled, hugging Robin in welcome. Zoro just gave her a thumbs up, having long determined that she would be joining their crew anyway. Sanji continued to dance around the room, while Chopper smiled happily, still hugging Robin's leg. "I'm glad you're staying with us. Who else aboard ship can I have a conversation about books with after all?"

"Hey, I read." Makino said mock-indignantly.

"You read romance novels and newspapers, I haven't seen you pick up a single book of any other genre," Chopper shot back.

Luffy laughed. "The little guy's got teeth, but on that note Chopper, how are we doing on the injury front?"

"I don't know why **you're** asking," Chopper said grumpily. He had tried to figure out how Luffy was healing himself, the speed of it being so far beyond anything he had ever heard about, even Zoro's after he had used Tekkai while moving. It made him rather cranky to have all of his medical knowledge being proven not exactly useless, but unimportant to his captain.

Still, he replied readily. "Nami's wounds are healing the slowest of course, and Zoro took several nasty sword wounds. The worst single wound however was Sanji's, the stab he took through the side. But I'm got him patched up well enough to move around as he can see. I had to operate on him though, so if he doesn't want another round of stitches and anesthesia, he should stop dancing around!" Chopper suddenly bellowed, transforming into his giant form and growling angrily at Sanji, who hopped back into bed quickly.

Chopper continued, not going back to his normal form for a moment as he looked over at Makino. "Makino had a fractured rib and a lot of bruises, but my bruise paste is working wonders already on those. She'll have to take it easy for a few days, no hand-to-hand combat or training, same with Nami. But none of them are in any danger."

He looked around, then looked over at Robin asking hesitantly "Are you sure we're alone?" he said actually whispering the words and looking a little worried.

Robin nodded, her face creased in a quizzical frown, and Chopper turned back to Luffy. "I've also been following up on your orders since we got back to the palace."

The others looked at their captain who smiled, winking at them all. "I told him to look for books on medicine or navigation in the library here in the palace and steal them."

Nami grinned, then looked over at Chopper eagerly, who in turn gestured to the bedroom the boys had taken over. As they all followed him, he went to the furthest bed and gestured underneath it, where several neat piles of books could be seen. "I've piled them up underneath there, five piles, the first three by the foot of the bed are medical books the others are navigation, and some others."

At that point the pirates realized Vivi was still there and looked at the princess, yet while Vivi looked rather shocked, she wasn't angry. Indeed after a moment the shock went away and she laughed. "We owe you all so much, you could probably just ask for whatever you need."

Before Nami could open her mouth, Luffy's hand clamped over it. "We don't need money so much as knowledge at this point," Luffy said with a grin. And somehow, I doubt the servants, the chief librarian or Igaram for example would go along with the idea of us taking these books."

"…I can't argue with that," Vivi said slowly, shivering a little as she remembered the one time when she was younger and had returned a book to the library in a poorer condition than she had taken it out. While Vivi's father would have no issue with it, and his was the final say, there would no doubt still be issues if the theft were known. "And I suppose that you stealing them like this can also be used to show that we aren't as friendly with you, as we are, if the World Government figures out we're connected in the first place," she said slowly, frowning at the thought.

"How are we transporting them?" Robin asked clinically. There were several dozen fantasy and science fiction books she would like to take from the library here in the palace too, including an entire series called the Rainbow Mist, which she thought were fascinating though she had only read the first of them. If they really did have a means of transporting them then…

Luffy smiled. "Pick out the navigation books ya want Nami," he ordered.

Despite looking at him weirdly Nami obliged, while Makino smiled secretly behind them _. This is going to be fun._

Both Sanji and Zoro joined the others gathering around the bed, the swordsman's eyes narrowed as he watched Luffy take one book, then stuff it into a bag. The bag was no bigger than any of the others they had been using for supplies here in Alabasta, but Luffy had infused this one with his ki that afternoon. It had slowed his healing down somewhat, but not enough for him to care.

Nami was about to say something very snarky, when Luffy took another book from her, then a third, then a fourth. When he pushed the sixth book into the small bag without it noticeably bulging, everyone's eyes began to widen.

"Another little Haki trick?" Zoro asked, leaning forward in his bed intently, gazing between the bag, Luffy and Makino.

"Somewhat," Ranma replied, wagging his hand back and forth. "I'll explain it and other techniques of a similar nature, or perhaps I should say that they are based upon a similar school of thought? Whatever. Anyway, I'll explain it once you have enough of a grounding in Haki."

Zoro nodded equably. He didn't honestly think that idea would be of much use for him in combat, but he was interested in the phrase 'other techniques of a similar nature'. Sanji too had caught that, but he wasn't blind to how easy a technique like that would make his job of buying supplies in the future.

Nami simply nodded not questioning anything eagerly taking the sack, though she looked a little nonplussed when Luffy said that he would have to hold onto it for a while. Vivi also looked rather interested, if confused, wondering how Haki could lead into something like what she was currently seeing. And Robin was definitely intrigued, her eyes locked on the bag and Luffy, as she held one hand up to her chin, the other crossed under her chest as she thought. _Yet another mystery! Fascinating. At the present moment however this means I must make time to visit the library myself tonight._

"While Nami's stuffing my sack here," Luffy said turning to Makino. "You said something earlier when we arrived that interested me. What's this deal ya made with Mr. 2, and why the heck did you make it in the first place?"

Makino grimaced. "I didn't really want to make that deal given how key he was to Crocodile's operations here. But in the end, I thought that perhaps adding a second ship to our breaking out from the desert island was a good idea…"

 **Flashback:**

Makino found herself dancing backwards and around a chair, as Mr. 2 advanced, his foot shattering the chair and sending large splinters towards her. Using Tekkai she was able to take those, and then she deactivated the technique, flicking a downed lamp post in his way. Mr. 2 twirled, kicking the lamp out of his way swiftly, but not quickly enough before she was able to bring her pistols up.

Mr. 2 however twirled away form that too, kicking up off the floor in a balletic arabesque onto a wall before coming back, dodging one of her musket balls as he did. A second later while in midair he dodged her second shot by the skin of his teeth. Not having anticipated that Makino was not able to dodge his kick which caught her hand knocking the pistol away.

But then Makino used that selfsame hand to grab Mr. 2's foot, hurling him away to smash into the wall. By the time the crossdressing man pulled himself out of the rubble, Makino had pulled out another pistol and was cocking its lever back.

Narrowing his eyes, Mr. 2 circled around while Makino turned in place, both of her pistols ready, one cocked forward from the other in a seeming martial arts stance though Mr. 2 had never seen anything like it before. Flicking his foot up, the man, still wearing his maid dress, hurled the top of the lamp post towards Makino, who ducked aside, then brought her guns up to block a kick as he crossed the intervening distance in a bound. A second later, they were exchanging blows in the middle of Vivi's bedroom.

Mr. 2 continued to move twirling around Makino and using both his feet and hands to good effect. Chops seemed to be his preferred method of using his hands, along with open palm thrusts. Makino in turn used jabs ad chops with her pistols while using her legs in a purely defensive manner.

"What's the matter?" Mr. 2 taunted, trying to get under the green-haired girl's skin. "Can't quite keep up with me cutie? I also notice you're not using any kiiicks~~. Or are you afraid of flashing me? You don't have to worry, you're totally not my type~~."

"I'm supposed to take the word of a criminal on that? and besides, I'm keeping up with you in quite fine, aren't I? You haven't landed a real blow yet," Makino retorted. Mr. 2's taunts would never get under her skin, not after she had dealt with Luffy's attempts to teach her the 'make them mad, make them stupid' technique, as he called it.

"True but it's only a matter of time!" Mr. 2 said, trying to sweep Makino's feet out from under her. Instead of leaping over them as Sanji or Luffy would have, Makino just stepped back, lightly kicking his leg as it passed almost destabilizing his balance enough to bring her pistol down on his head.

He dodged in the last second, but still took a blow to his shoulder, and he quickly pushed with his pivot leg into another arabesque to get some distance between them again as she fired both pistols. Neither musket ball hit, but they came a little too close for comfort.

Still, he thought he saw a weakness just then, and charged forward, only to stop and stare as Makino charged forward to. "Don't even joooke~~! You think you can fight me in close!?"

Makino's martial arts style had been almost entirely developed by Luffy, and though we would never tell anyone, a lot of it came from watching anime shows back when he was Ranma. He called it Gun Kenpo, and it could surprise a lot of people. And while Makino could not sustain Busoshoku for very long, she could infuse it into small objects, like her pistols. She knew that was an endurance intensive skill however, and knew she needed to end this fight before Mr. 2 could wear her out.

This was why Mr. 2 began to grimace as they exchanged blows and he nearly collapsed over the barrel of one of Makino's pistol whish smashed barrel end first into his chest, its tip glowing black. He felt a few ribs go, but he had moved with just enough of the blow to avoid more serious damage, and in return his own palm thrust caught Makino in the face. She staggered back, having been unable to use Tekkai and Busoshoku at the same time.

Mr. 2 tried to press in, but she quickly brought her pistols up in a cross, blocking his kick. The impetus of it still threw her out the doorway and down the hall skidding along the floor however. Mr. 2 followed swiftly, but Makino dropped her two spent pistols, reached into her pouch from which she pulled out two more, cocking them both but firing only one.

Mr. 2 twitched aside twirling behind the doorway. "Don't even Joke~~!" he shouted once more. "How many of those guns to you have?"

"Wouldn't you like to know?" Makino said, a confident smirk on her face, one she had seen Shanks, Luffy and even Garp use on more than one occasion.

Actually, the two pistols Makino had in her hands right then were her last. Not having enough of a reserve of her own Makino couldn't use Luffy's ki expansion technique as well as he could, so there was a limit to how many pistols she could carry.

With that and her body feeling somewhat exhausted, Makino knew she was also slowly losing this fight. Her endurance was simply not up to fighting Mr. 2 for this long, and he was dodging enough of her own attacks to stay in the game long enough to wear her out. Her use of Busoshoku, while quite good, tired her out all the more.

Mr. 2 suddenly bounded out of the door hurling the sofa from Vivi's room at her, and forcing Makino backwards. He kicked off one of the hallway's walls, then up onto the ceiling trying to make certain that Makino couldn't get a bead on him as he advanced toward her.

Before Makino could set her feet again Mr. 2 was on her, and several hard blows landed before she got her defenses up, though she was able to move with him enough that none of them were truly debilitating. In return a hard pistol whip to his sternum sent Mr. 2 backwards, grimacing in agony as they hit aggravated his already broken ribs, and the two continue to exchange blows there in the corridor dancing down it as Mr. 2 tried to press his advantage, but couldn't quite break Makino's defenses now. But he was weakening her, and he knew it.

Makino decided to use some psychological warfare to see if she could get through to her crossdressing opponent. "I have to wonder what line Crocodile fed you that would lead you to willingly sacrifice yourself for his ambitions," she said, almost conversationally.

"What are you talking about?"Mr. 2 shouted, kicking one of her hands upwards. But this time Makino kept her grip on her weapon, and her other pistol came up in a short jab to block his follow-on punch, carrying it to the side and twirling with it while bringing down the hand he had kicked around in a blow towards Mr. 2's head, which he blocked in turn.

"I mean," Makino grunted, pulling back from that attack quickly to block another series of jabs and kicks. "That Crocodile was never going to let you live. He had a bomb set up in the city to wipe out both sides of this conflict, as well as all his agents here of course."

"Don't even joke~~!" Mr. 2 shouted. "Zero-chan would never do that! He needs us all too much."

"Why would he need you?" Makino asked, injecting a tone of honest confusion into her voice, even as Mr. 2 began to press her even harder. He was however somewhat too reckless, and her next jab caught him in the shoulder. That threw off his pace enough for her to back away, bringing up her still loaded pistol. He dodged, smashing open a door with his injured shoulder, and Makino growled but pulled her finger back off the trigger.

Nonetheless she went on speaking only shouting the words now. "Your role in this is done, isn't it? Why would he need someone of your talents now? If he succeeds why would he share any part of his scheme with anyone let alone you? When, for that matter, has Crocodile ever treated his followers like they were important? Or did you really not know that he sent two of your fellow agents, Mr. 7 and his partner, on a suicide mission?"

"What are you talking about?" Mr. 2 said once more, not showing himself but sounding much calmer now if still angry. Even his accent had become less obnoxious. "I haven't seen those two in a while, but that's not proof they were sent on a suicide mission by Zero-chan."

"They were here in the clock tower by the plaza with a bomb. It was loaded in a cannon, and I imagine they thought they would have to shoot it off. But when we examined it the bomb was also on a timer. Crocodile evidently believes in redundancy in his plans and leaving no witnesses. Surely you've heard some rumors to that effect as you were sneaking through the palace." Makino replied.

Mr. 2 narrowed his eyes. He had heard something about a bomb being discovered, but he thought it was something to do with the rebels or maybe a backup plan for if his tasks had failed. But this was sounding as if Crocodile was willing to sacrifice both Mr. 2 **and** his crew, who had taken over a lot of the spy slots here in the capital.

This was true, in a way. Crocodile had been willing to sacrifice all of them: his other agents in both armies and the Mr. 7 pair. Mr. 2's death would have been regrettable, given how useful he was, and Crocodile had anticipated he at least would have left the city with his captives. But if Mr. 2 had died, Crocodile would not have mourned it.

"And the Marines are here too," Makino went on mock-helpfully. "Lead by a captain Hina. The 'Black Cage' I think she's called. How exactly do you see this ending, Mr. 2? Is this fight really worth your life now?"

Mr. 2 fell silent, thinking hard. He knew he was pretty battered at this point, even if he thought he had hurt the green-haired woman almost as much. The idea of fighting a Marine captain, especially one with Black Cage's known abilities, was not one he wanted to contemplate. And if Crocodile had betrayed him or at least planned for his death and the death of his crew, that changed things. "What are you offering?" he said finally.

"If the Marines are here, my own crew might be trapped on this island if they have enough ships nearby, and Black Cage is known for that maneuver." Or at least she was according to what Makino had found out since they landed in Alabasta. She had never heard of the woman before that aside from a few comments from Garp about how she was a good Marine.

"Two ships are better than one?"

"Exactly. Two crews are better than one as well. And it gets us both out of here alive."

Mr. 2 tapped one finger against the wall, before waving his hand out of the corridor. "I'm coming out, don't shoot at me greenie-chan~~."

Makino nodded, backing away slightly, both of her pistol still raised in the air, ready to be brought down and fired, or so Mr. 2 was supposed to think. She only had one still armed.

Mr. 2 held out a small short range den-den mushi, the sight of which made Makino twitch as the thought _I can't believe we forgot about those,_ went through her head. "I want to check your story about the Marines being here, and that rumor about the bomb. If it checks out, I'll agree to that plan."

 **End flashback**

"Of course the rumor did check out, as did Black Cage Hina being here, so we made the deal. I'm not certain if he would've gone for it if he also didn't have a crew to worry about, but I think that actually speaks in his favor." Makino said with a shrug.

"But then why were you chasing him out the window?" Chopper asked innocently, causing the others to look at Makino in question.

"Oh, that." Makino said blushing and not making eye contact with anyone. "Let's just say he said something very rude to me and things escalated from there. 'You're not so bad for an old woman with fat hips' indeed," she huffed to herself, heard only by Robin, who chuckled. Makino glared at her and Robin quickly fell silent, miming zipping her mouth closed.

Nami looked at Robin too. "What's your opinion on Mr. 2? Can we trust him?"

"Mr. 2 is trustworthy if rather gullible." Robin replied promptly, moving on from her amusement at the other woman's anger. "He is also a very tough fighter, and quite adaptable. His crew is also devoted to him, even if they do partake in some of his oddities," she finished with a shudder.

"Cross-dressing or just dressing up?" Makino asked tiredly.

"Ah, no. Mr. 2 generally goes around dressed like a ballerina when not in disguise, and his crew do as well. Even for pirates they are… highly unusual," Robin replied.

For a moment the room was silent, then Luffy gagged, and both Sanji and Zoro spat to the side. "I'm going to need a lot of liquor to get that image out of my head," Zoro said, both of the other boys nodding agreement. Even the girls looked a little green in the gills.

"Well that's a good thing I suppose…" Vivi said dubiously. "His crew at least will help you all to get away once the marines learn you're leaving Alabasta. I wish there was more we could do but…"

Luffy shook his head, moving over to clap a hand on her shoulder. "It's not a problem Vivi. The moment we spotted Smoker and Hina we knew we might run into issues getting away. Besides, it's a pirate's lot in life to be chased. And you can't afford to bring more World Government interest down on your head or Alabasta."

"I know, it just feels so wrong to not help you all after what you've done for us." Vivi replied.

"Don't worry about it," he said again, shaking her by her shoulder for a moment. "Besides, it was more what we did for **you** than what we did for Alabasta." The other pirates all nodded, adding their words of agreement to Luffy's.

Vivi flushed, looking away from Luffy for a second. "Thank you," she whispered, then shook her head as Luffy stood back, moving over to reclaim his bag from Nami. "I should go get ready for this evening. I'll see you all at the feast." She smiled at them all, exchanged a high five with Chopper in his monster form, and left.

Luffy locked the door behind Vivi and waited a few moments before looking over at Robin and then the others. "Now that Vivi is gone, let's talk about the elephant in the room: the sand-sand fruit. It would paint an even bigger target on us than we already have after killing Crocodile in the first place, but it would be **seriously** useful to have an logia type in our crew. So, does any of you want it?"

"I don't want it," Nami said, holding up her hands in an X in front of her face. "It's not my style at all."

She glared at Luffy, who had the decency to look abashed, pulling at his pigtail for a moment under his Straw Hat. She had smacked him and rightly so for pushing her into the fight as he had. He hadn't anticipated that she would face missed Ms. Doublefinger alone which has been a mistake, but she had won at least.

"I'm sorry," Sanji said. "I can see the utility of it, but no. I have a single Devil Fruit out there that I want, that I have pledged will be mine if I ever come across it, and I won't eat another. Besides," Sanji went on, ignoring the questioning looks everyone was shooting him. "I like to swim too much to take on a Devil Fruit. What about you? You're the captain, shouldn't you get the fruit? And what about the national treasure?"

Zoro and Luffy both exchanged glances, before shaking their heads. "Not my thing either." The swordsman said. "I'm a swordsman, not a melee fighter, and a devil fruit would just get in the way of that. And frankly it'd feel like cheating."

"It's not my kind of style either," Luffy said with a shrug. "Oh, some of the powers it's got are interesting, but what I can already do at least parallels a lot of them, so I don't really see the point."

He looked over at Makino who shook her head quickly. "I don't want it, I will never be a front line combatant, and have no wish to be one. And given everything else we've done here to put us in the WG's crosshairs, I don't think adding another reason for them to send powerful forces after us would be a good idea. I'd like to give it to Vivi honestly."

"That was my thought as well," Luffy said with a nod.

"Wait, what?" Robin asked, incredulous. "I realize you've done all of this friendship's sake, but even taking on a Shichibukai is different from giving that Shichibukai's devil fruit to someone else."

"Vivi's the princess of a desert kingdom, who could use it easily in an environment where the Sand-Sand Fruit is at its most dangerous. Her nation could also use a major injection of military power," Luffy said calmly. "Unless one of you wants it, we'll go with that idea. Then she could be a real 'desert' princess," he said with a laugh.

"I would recommend that she wait to eat it for a while," Chopper said clinically. He had no opinion either way, since either Makino or Vivi taking the fruit would help the crew get stronger. "There's no way to know what it would be like to start using after all, and Logia Fruits are known to produce very odd reactions once ingested."

Robin looked around at the others but Nami, who had looked a little irritated at the idea of not using the Sand-Sand Fruit themselves, nodded firmly. She and Chopper were closest to the desert princess of them all, and thus would be the one's missing her the most if Vivi stayed behind.

Looking over at Luffy, Nami decided to broach that very subject. "She could use it, and it really would be a help. I'm going to miss her terribly if she decides to stay," she said, narrowing her eyes at Luffy, who refused to take the bait. She scowled, then asked bluntly "So is Vivi going to leave with us?"

"That's up to her," Luffy said, shrugging his shoulders. "I won't tell you not to try and recruit her but I don't see it happening. This whole kingdom is her treasure after all, I can't see her leaving it behind."

Robin smiled, shaking her head as the image of a chibi Vivi trying to stuff all the sand up in Alabasta into her pockets came to mind for a moment. Sanji looked at her quizzically, his one visible eyebrow rising in question, but Robin did not reply. Instead she moved over to the clothing the maids had brought, intent on trying them on and seeing what Makino could to do hide her identity yet still let her able to eat at the feast tomorrow night.

 **OOOOOOO**

Smoker leaned back in a chair on his ship, the same one that he had commandeered back in Logue Town from a jumped up little lieutenant who had thought his iron plated fists meant he could talk back to a captain. Smoker couldn't remember the man's name at the moment, and frankly couldn't care. Instead his attention was fully on the Den-Den Mushi in front of him, which was currently relaying orders from headquarters. "The investigators from the World Government will be there within a week. They will also be accompanied by a high-ranking Admiral. It has not been decided on who just yet."

"That's fine and dandy for the future, but what about right now?" Smoker said, knowing in his gut he wasn't going to like this.

The other end of the Mushi was silent for a moment before beginning, its voice steely. "Crocodile's death will be attributed to the Marines. The depths of his betrayal as a Shichibukai will be investigated, and you and Captain Hina will receive full commendations along with the brevet ranks of Commodore."

Nearby Tashigi stiffened and anger. "But that's not," she began, only to silence herself as Smoker held up a hand.

The voice from the other and went on, explaining how they were going to cover up what really happened as both of his listeners became angrier and angrier.

"Now wait just fucking minute!" Smoker bellowed, his loud voice overriding the other man's for a moment. "You want to give **us** credit?! You want to make **us** the good guys? When there are dozens, possibly even 100 witnesses to the fact that I was unconscious when Crocodile died? When it was never a Marine who found out his duplicity? Instead of trying to own up to our failures, you want us to cover that up?!"

"The pillars of the world cannot be shaken!" The voice on the other line snapped. "This is an order from the Gorosei itself. "Nothing about the battle between Crocodile and this Straw Hat Luffy will ever be allowed to worry the public mind. And we will stop his rise now."

"And you just want me to go along with this, toe the fucking party line? You can eat shit!" Smoker bellowed into the receiver, clicking it down and hurling himself out of his chair before stalking out of the room angrily.

Tashigi followed him rapidly, looking just as incensed as her boss. She hadn't wanted to really admit it, but the Straw Hat pirates had been the ones truly fighting the good fight here in Alabasta, and the Marines… hadn't. Indeed, they had just gotten in the way, though Tashigi felt that her own part in the battle at Rain Dinners at least helped the Straw Hat Pirates somewhat. "Will they really be able to cover it up?"

"There were no witnesses to Crocodile and Mugiwara's battle out in the desert," Smoker said sighing wearily. "They'll be able to cover up that aspect at least for a while. At least until people start connecting the dots and realize I was unconscious when Croc must have died. But if they can silence Mugiwara quickly enough, they might be able to get away with it."

He sighed. "The rest, well I suppose they'll probably try to use you as the woman who shouted about how Crocodile had Dance Powder stored in his casino over the PA system. How that will take in Alabasta I don't know, but it will be believed internationally."

"This, this feels wrong." Tashigi said, frowning. "I realize that the Straw Hat Pirates are still Pirates, and I will try my hardest to bring them to justice, but…"

"I know." Smoker growled. "I feel like they fought the good fight here too, but they're a threat. With the skill of that bastard Mugiwara, the first mate and even Black Leg, they're a big fucking threat to world peace, that hasn't changed. Don't forget that a pirate is still a pirate Tashigi." Well, that and the humiliation of having been beaten by the same pirate three times now but left alive afterward. That disdain, that contempt galled Smoker.

With that thought in his mind he waved Tashigi off. "Go out and blow off some steam. I'm going to call Tsuru-sama personally, as the Chief of Operations she'll be able to tell us what kind of help they're going to send us without forcing me to become further embroiled in the WG's machinations. Whatever happens the Straw Hats won't escape Alabastan waters."

 **OOOOOOO**

The next evening, the Pirates were led into the throne room, which had been set for the feast. A single long table filled the room from one end to the other. All along the walls there were guardsmen smiling at them, slamming their ceremonial spears into the ground in salute as Cobra shouted out a welcome to the heroes of Alabasta. To one side of the throne room was a small band, a local orchestra of some kind, or perhaps the royal family's own musicians.

Luffy smiled, bowing and whipping his Straw Hat off his head, which he was still wearing despite having gotten dressed up in a decent looking suit for the evening. The others were similarly well-dressed, though Robin again was wearing a disguise thanks to Makino. On her head she wore a turban, her skin had somehow been darkened with some kind of cosmetic, and her eyes had contacts in them changing their color to a dark black.

Looking around, Luffy really didn't think they were worth all this cheering. It wasn't as if they had set out to save the country after all or at least not to actually do so. They had saved it because it had allowed Luffy to challenge a Shichibukai, and they had all wanted to help Vivi.

The pirates were quickly led to the table as Cobra smiled at them all, clapping his hands once they were all sat down. At this signal servants came in carrying piles and piles of food. Music started up in the background too the moment the king finished speaking, slow, haunting music almost, which Vivi said was called 'Ode to the desert moon'. It was something of a favorite of her father's.

At first the dinner was a rather stilted, formal affair but about five minutes into the meal Luffy decided to liven things up. With that in mind his hand flashed forward grabbing a chicken leg that Zoro had been about to take from a serving platter.

"Oy shitty captain I was about eat that!" Zoro shouted.

"Speed training Zoro," he said with a laugh. "Ji-kure trained me in the same fashion." And he had too, not up to the level Genma had in Ranma/Luffy's past life, but still to a level he could use as an excuse for his little joke. "Let's see how you measure up. Loser goes hungry."

"Garp did indeed do that, but I thought I trained you out of doing so in public!" Makino said, practically growling the words at Luffy's sudden desire to ignore her lessons on proper manners.

"Meh" Luffy said, wrinkling his nose at her. "This party's a little too dead for my liking anyway, have to liven it up somehow."

"Indeed!" Cobra said with a laugh of his own. "Play something more upbeat please, and all of you, don't be so stuffy!

After that, the feast went much more playfully, with everyone talking and joking together now that their Captain had set the tone, not even Makino and Nami trying to act decorous in the king's presence. When Igaram and Chaka tried to object, Luffy suddenly disappeared from his seat, only to appear standing lightly on top of their heads one foot on either of them.

"Lighten up you two," he said, being very careful not to put any actual weight on them. Both of them would later wonder how the hell he had done that, but it was a secret of the Aerial Style of Anything Goes and Luffy wasn't about to share it. "This is a party! Have fun!" he ordered, before flipping off of them both and landing back on his chair with a thump, crossing his feet and putting them up on the table for a moment as he grabbed a plate of food.

Zoro turned glaring at Nami, slamming his mug down. "It's time we settled things witch! I challenge you!"

Nami grinned, waving her own empty mug at one of the nearby servants. "Bring it on sword boy!"

Laughing Luffy reached over and pulled Sanji out of his chair between the two of them, holding him in the air as Zoro moved over so that he was facing across the table from Nami before plunking the chef into Zoro's old seat. "So, tell me more about your fight with this candy man."

Listening in on what Robin and Sanji told him, Luffy had to hold back a frown. _So this guy was really a Marine at one point? That's not good. Dealing with the Shichibukai is one thing, but dealing with him and a former Marine traitor? That's like doubling down on an already dangerous bet. I thought before this that they would send someone to back up Hina and Smoker after they heard about me killing Crocodiles, but on top of killing him we've taken out a blight on the Marines like Gasparde? They could send a Commodore or even a Vice-Admiral._

 _I suppose I could fight a Vice-Admiral, but if they send a full Admiral, even as I am now there's no way I could fight one of them on an even footing. Not if I didn't break out the sealed techniques and even then I doubt I could win._

Luffy was brought out of his thoughts as two small hands grabbed his upper arm pulling on him. He looked up to find Vivi smiling at him and she let go of his upper arm with one hand to wave to the musicians, who had just started up a lively air. Others had moved up from the table and were moving over to a small cleared area to one side. "Come on and dance!" Vivi shouted over the noise.

Smiling Luffy let himself be pulled to his feet and out onto the dance floor, dancing around with Vivi for a bit. Deep thoughts could wait until later.

 **OOOOOOO**

Black Cage Hina was irritated, and did not care who could tell as she stomped over the docks to Smoker's purloined galleon. Her own ship was still out to sea, part of the cordon that she had thrown up around the island. It wasn't a blockade as most landlubbers would think but rather spaced out schooners sailing around within sight of every river and port. The galleons, her main strike force, were anchored a ways out from that in small reaction groups that could move to cover any bit of the coastline once they were called in.

That however was not on Hina's mind at the moment. What irritated her at present was that Mr. 2 had escaped. He had run into a crowd of returning soldiers on the outskirts of Alubarna, and then used his ability to simply blend in for a few moments. She had lost him then and hadn't been able to hunt up any of his crew either by the time she had started looking for them.

She paused as she reached the wharf leading out to Smoker's ship, staring at where Tashigi had been busily hacking apart several old crates with her sword given the amount of jetsam tossed every which way. Tashigi was sitting down leaning against a pier gasping in air, her sword set into the wood to her side.

"I take it I'm not the only one who has had a bad day? Hina frustrated." Hina said moving toward the younger woman.

The younger woman looked up, then blinked and hopped to her feet, standing on wobbly legs as she threw a quick salute. "Captain, I'm sorry I didn't see you there." At Hina's amused look, Tashigi mellowed quickly. "And yes, the World Government got in contact with us, and told us to go along with the cover story they want to use to hide what really happened here."

Hina very carefully hid a wince at that. If the World Government was going to put a cover story in place that meant they were possibly willingly to execute anyone who tried to tell a different story. _Not good, they must be very worried about Crocodile's death._ Even busy as she had been in the capital Hina had heard about the discovery of Crocodile's body, and had time to think about the ramifications of it. "Has there been any report about his devil fruit?"

"I'm afraid not," Tashigi said. "I think that might be making the World Government's response worse than it would've been otherwise."

"That's an understatement," Hina said with a rather grim chuckle. She cocked her head indicating the other woman should walk with her back up to the ship, and the swordswoman fell into step beside Hina. "The World Government doesn't like logia type fruits to be in the hands of anyone besides themselves."

The two women soon joined Smoker in his room, where Tashigi immediately moved through the room with practiced ease before opening a porthole on the other side to let out the smoke. "What're you doing you katana-baka?" the voice of Smoker said from somewhere inside the smoke that filled the room from deck to ceiling.

"You're the only one that can actually breathe in such an environment Smoker," Hina said, waiting outside as the room cleared. "And is there a reason you decided to make our communication room into a smokehouse? Hina disturbed."

Growling angrily Smoker bit down on his cigarettes, before spitting them out to one side. He took a long drag then replied in a clipped angry tone, going into detail on what Tashigi had told Hina earlier.

Hina took it a lot more calmly than Smoker did. Unlike Smoker, who was a protégé of Aokiji, the admiral least interested in politics, she had dealt with a lot more of the World Government policies in person and didn't like many of them. But she also knew that unless she wanted to turn pirate herself, there was little she could do about it.

As such, she had determined to follow her role model, Tsuru's', example and work her way up to where she could truly begin to influence Marine policy if not the World Government's. It hadn't been working so well so far. _This might not have been the way I wanted to gain the rank, but I'll take what I can get._ "What help are we getting immediately?"

"Vice Admiral Doberman should be here by midmorning tomorrow. He's the only one that was close enough to respond quickly, but we also have four Commodores coming in within three days after that. Between us and their squadrons, we should be able to deal with this upstart Straw Hat crew if we can bring them to battle. We just need to keep them here or in sight at a minimum until then."

Both women nodded at that however Hina had to suppress a wince. Doberman was not her favorite person in the world. He had made passes at her in the past, nothing she could call him on, but enough to irritate. "So we need to hold them this night, and into the morning at a minimum? We can do that. Hina determined."

"I'd agree with that," Smoker said puffing thoughtfully on two new cigars before going on, "if I was certain that Doberman alone would be enough to stop Mugiwara."

To that, neither woman could say anything.

 **OOOOOOO**

About an hour after the feast had finished, Luffy and his crew were shown into the Royal baths. These were truly massive, two-story tall edifices, the layout of which sort of looked like a mix between Arabic and Roman in design. Luffy liked it immediately, primarily because the water was all hot, something that made Sanji pout noticeably until Luffy caught his eyes, sending Sanji looking away quickly.

Luffy chuckled under his breath, unheard thanks to the sound of the water. He couldn't control someone's perverted thoughts, much as he could wish to. _So long as the flirty-chef doesn't try anything he gets to keep his dangly bits._

Nodding to Zoro, Luffy moved to the back of the room, quickly dunking themselves in the bath, before sitting underneath the heated waterfalls that had the bath in an effort rotating cascade. Zoro seemed to think about joining him, but instead moved over towards Chopper. "I'll get your back if you get mine?"

They both looked up however as the fog of the bath cleared and the camel that they had used in the desert come into view. "What the hell is that thing doing here?" Zoro growled, wishing he had his swords on him.

The camel began to make noises while Chopper translated, not trying to change his voice this time. "Apparently Eyelashes followed us here, and has decided to stay. One of the maids let him in, and he found his way here."

"Freaking strange camel," Zoro muttered. He then blinked as Sanji and Eyelashes perked up when the sounds of laughter from the female side of the baths reached them. "Ero-alliance…"

Deciding to ignore this for now, Luffy sat in a meditation pose as he allowed his thoughts to drift back to the fight with Crocodile. _All around I think I was able to fight him pretty well. The only thing that threw me was that damn water draining thing of his. Take that away, and the only issue would've been the poison, but Robin helped me deal with that._

He spent a few seconds thinking warm thoughts towards the woman who had made the fight that much easier. _Everything else he threw at me I was able to overcome. But, I made a lot of mistakes there._ Luffy thought grimly. _I should've used the jutte and more of my 'Ranma' techniques right off the bat rather than trickling them in, although the ki blasts wouldn't have worked._

Luffy's ki blasts hit like pile-driving force rather than like some kind of energy beam, there was impact rather than searing heat in the strikes. And ki attacks had nothing in them that could cancel out a logia type's ability to disperse.

 _That was a surprise,_ Luffy reflected. _The fact that he used Observation and was able to anticipate my punches enough to move out of the way even when my fists and feet were infused with Haki made the fight a hell of a lot tougher._ _His distant attacks were also better than mine I guess, though my slight edge in speed mean I could cancel them out. His speed… he couldn't match my Amaguriken, but his base speed was a lot closer than I'm happy with and his Observation canceled out the rest of my advantage there._

 _Physical strength… we never really tested that. I was surprised he couldn't also use Busoshoku, but I suppose that the number of people who can use both types is small. Maybe I'm being a little too ambitious to think that my whole crew will be able to use one or the other eventually._

 _Still, it's plain that I need to start reincorporating more of my 'Ranma' techniques into my style. I want to keep the Sealed Techniques in reserve, I don't want to use them until I have to against an Admiral or similar enemy. But anything else is fair game._

Luffy's thoughts were interrupted when the door to the men's side of the baths opened and the king came in, followed by Igaram. The two of them joined Sanji and the others in the main pool and Sanji smiled. "Bathing with a King, we pirates really have come up in the world."

They all laughed at that, then Sanji asked the question that should not have been asked, yet was so obvious Luffy kicked himself for not seeing it coming. Moving through the water to Cobra's side he nudged the king with an elbow, smirking around his ever present cigarette. "So, where's the women's bath?"

Igaram bristled, his hand coming down in a chop on the back of Sanji's head. "How dare you, the princess is in there!"

"It's over here!" the king said, actually exiting the water to point dramatically to the top of the wall on the right side of the bath from the entrance.

"Wooohoo, king-sama, you understand the good things in life don't you!" Sanji said scrambling out of the bath quickly followed by Eyelashes as they moved to join Cobra.

"Hey you bastards, don't you dare!" Igaram shouted and Zoro shook his head as even Chopper moved to join them looking a little confused but going with the crowd. Luffy didn't, instead simply closing his eyes and shaking his head sadly.

On the women's side of the baths Vivi was smiling as Makino began to play with her long hair, working in some shampoo while Robin did the same for herself, and Nami lounged in the bath nearby, her arms propped on the side of the bath and her body floating on the water as Carue swam around the bath. Smiling up at the ceiling Nami had just wondered aloud up what they would see next, stating that she hoped they wouldn't face any more action for a while.

"I can't even imagine!" Vivi said. "We've seen a city-sized whale, dolphins the size of ships, flying fish that sang. Fought another pirate crew and saved an island. We met and brought into the crew a reindeer that can talk and met a healer witch who lived on a snow mountain. All the while you apparently fought the ex-king of Drum Island and helped Dalton-san install a new government!"

Vivi had heard about the battles on and around Drum Island and immediately remembered when she had met Dalton and Wapol before at the King's council. There she had taken Wapol's smacking so as to keep the peace between their countries and not take away from her father's stance on the issues being discussed there. Vivi had taken a certain amount of vindictive pleasure that the crew she was a part of had dealt with him in such a manner.

"And on top of that you then saved my own country!" Vivi exclaimed happily, her eyes having begun to shine brightly as she talked about their adventures. "I have to wonder how much more adventure there is out there, what is beyond the horizon! I'm envious of you all for being able to go out there and see it."

Nami and Robin looked at her, lips twitching and amusement, while Makino continued to smile at the girl's back as she worked her hands through her hair. She noticed the girl's speech was a little bit disjointed as all of them save Robin had drunk at dinner.

This did not mean that they did not hear the rustle of the boys climbing up the wall and staring over at them.

Makino reacted quickly, grabbing the startled Vivi around the waist, and pulling her backwards off of her stool and into the water with her. At the same moment Robin summoned up a wall of limbs to protect her modesty.

Nami however smiled calmly, standing up and pulling her bath towel around herself, "Men!" she said, turning in the direction the law. "That will be 50,000 dollars each! Happiness **Punch**!" With that, she undid her towel flashing the boys.

"Nami-san!" Vivi shouted, her face a bright red as she stared at the other girl.

Makino simply shook her head, while Robin sighed theatrically, dissipated her protective wall of arms as Sanji and the others flew back on geysers of blood which exploded from their noses, even Chopper for some reason. All of them landed on their backs on the other side of the wall, but you would have had to perform torture to remove the grins on three of the four faces.

"You didn't have to do that you know," Robin said mildly getting back into the bath. "I could have easily summoned up a few hands on the wall and…" She clenched her hand in a very dramatic and violent manner and Nami giggled while Makino smirked and Vivi smiled in approval.

Nami shrugged. "Honestly, it was just as easy this way. Still it's a little irritating that Luffy and Zoro weren't there. I would've liked to have made a clean sweep."

Robin frowned cocking an eyebrow at her. "You wanted more people to see you naked? You could go over there and correct that if you are so inclined."

Nami looked over at Robin, her eyes narrowing, before she rolled her eyes dramatically trying to lighten the mood which had suddenly become a little too serious. "Oh god no, not another prude."

Robin stood up in the bath, letting the water cascade down her body, her very voluptuous body Nami noted a little irritably as she felt her throat tighten. The older woman had a slightly better figure then Makino or Nami in the waist area, and her bust size was a little intimidating to Nami despite her own impressive curves. She knew she'd catch up and possibly sooner rather than later, but she hadn't yet.

As Robin advanced, Nami found herself backing through the bath until her back slammed into the side of the wall, and Robin reached forward, drawing a finger down the side of her neck to her collarbone sending a shiver up Nami's body. "I am far from a prude," Robin said softly, "but I am very picky on who I allow to see my body."

With that she stood back, ducking down into the water and moving back towards the opposite wall. "You need to watch out lest you get some offers you won't like."

"Offers don't bother me," Nami said shaking her head and trying to fight back a blush the other woman's teasing had evoked. "I've dealt with that kind of crap my entire life."

"They should!" Makino interjected causing Nami to scowl but going on quickly. "I wouldn't have put the point so bluntly, but you need to realize that you don't need to use your wiles as weapons any longer Nami. That kind of thing **will** get you in trouble down the line especially if you do it without one of the crew around. On the Grand Line you're more likely to run into pirates that won't fall for your tricks and might simply attack you if they think you're just trying to play hard to get."

Nami winced at that, but slowly nodded. "I'll try. But some habits are harder than others to break, and, and I'm **proud** of my body dammit!"

"Being proud is one thing, giving off an air of someone who is easy is a different thing entirely." Robin replied. "Or do you think the clothing I prefer doesn't put my body on display just as much as yours?"

Vivi remained silent throughout this quarrel, uncertain what to think. She honestly would've loved to be as confident about her body as Nami was, but she could also see Robin and Makino's point. "Let's set this aside for now," she said, smiling bravely at them all. "So Nami, did you want to take any of the clothing I showed you earlier? Makino-san, I think you said you could tailor some of it?"

"Those formal dresses for certain. I'd like to make certain we have some disguises as well." Makino said going along with the change of subject without argument. Soon enough the conversation was once more moving in a friendlier manner and a far less serious one.

Over in the men's bath Cobra reached up to his nose, wiping away the blood which had exploded out of that orifice at seeing Nami's young and incredibly gorgeous body on display like that. "I thank you."

Luffy looked up from where he was still meditating to join in the chorus of "Ero-jiji!"

"Not for that!" the King shouted then looked at them all before moving into a sitting position. From there he bent his head so deeply his forehead touched the ground of the bath house.

Igaram gasped and shouted "Your Majesty you shouldn't bow your head like that!"

"That's enough Igaram!" Cobra shouted and the man stiffened. "I thank you, from the bottom of my heart for what you have done for my country as a king. And as a father, I thank you for looking after my daughter."

The Pirates all looked at one another, smiling. "Oi, is that any way for a king to act?" Zoro said with a bit of a smirk on his face. In his view it took a real amount of courage for someone like a king to realize he needed to thank someone like this, let alone going through with it.

"It is when he owes someone as much as I owe you." Cobra said, his head still pressing into the cold tiles of the bathhouse.

To one side Sanji sat up too, smiling at his fellow pervert. Chopper too smiled happily. "Heheh, don't worry about it, helping nakama is what real pirates are supposed to do."

Luffy laughed. "Oh get up your majesty, Chopper's right. We didn't do it for thanks but for Vivi, well, most of us did anyway. And besides, you should wait until you see the wreckage that was your library before really thanking us."

Since the King had been speaking loud enough for them all to hear even over the sound of the running water his speech along with Luffy and Zoro's reply had been overheard by the girls on the other side and Robin added in her own two cents at this point. When she spoke her voice was its habitual calm tone with nothing hinting in it of her despair she had felt when the Poneglyph here proved to be a dead end, carried to the other side by a mouth high up in the intervening wall so she didn't have to shout. "Indeed, you should wait until next morning for that. I haven't been able to take my own lump of flesh just yet."

The King laughed and resumed bathing, moving into the water with Igaram and eyelashes beside him.

Nami however was looking at Robin thoughtfully. She sidled up to Robin with one arm looped around Vivi's pulling her along through the water. Vivi was looking at her quizzically, but not fighting her as she moved over to sit beside Robin. "So, that power of yours? I don't suppose you'd be willing to… pay the men back in like coin would you? It's only fair after all."

Vivi's eyes widened, and a blush suffused her face. But to the watching Makino's amused surprise she didn't back away, staring at Robin with the remnants of her liquid given courage.

In response Robin allowed her lips to quirk into a smile. "I could, but I couldn't share what I am seeing with you. Not physically anyway."

Nami waved a hand while Makino rolled her eyes and made no move to join them. All of the boys and the crew were too young for her, and she had no interest in either of the other two men over there.

"You could describe them, and I bet you could do it very well too, given how many books you read."

"I won't be that invasive. I will however admit that the idea of paying them back in like coin is enticing." With that Robin closed her eyes crossing her hands as she summoned up an eyeball up in the ceiling, and then several more eyeballs on the men's side of the bath. "Hhmmm, that's interesting. Sanji is actually quite a bit more built in the upper body area than I would've expected."

"It comes from all those handstands he does in his personal style I think," Nami said with a smile. "Now come on, more information Robin-nee-sama!"

Rolling her eyes at the younger girl's wheedling tone, Robin complied, now giving a running commentary. "Sanji is a little too colorless. I think he needs more sun since he's always wearing those suits and long sleeved shirts. His hair also is in that same coif despite being wet. He has a very decent build, the build of an all-around sprinter and fighter rather than a bodybuilder. I would give Sanji 7 out of 10. He has a very well defined six-pack, but is a little hairy for my preferences, as in, he has hair on his chest in the first place."

During this description Nami and Vivi began to giggle and Robin smiled at them, now getting into it herself and enjoying the moment of female camaraderie. Makino rolled her eyes but made no move to leave, simply enjoying the show.

"Moving on, Zoro is the most physically powerful looking upper-body wise of the men over there, despite not being as wide across the shoulders as Igaram… who I will not mention again, ugh. Zoro has an extremely well-defined set of pecs and a six-pack like Sanji, but his chest is heavily marred by a rather nasty scar that he has crossing from one shoulder down to the opposite hip. I'm certain there has to be some tale behind that, but wherever it came from it is a very nasty wound."

Robin paused at that, not having seen Zoro shirtless before this. Shaking off her curiosity she continued. "He has other scars as well, which mar his form somewhat to my eyes. Not enough to make him unhandsome though if you're into the bodybuilder type, which again is not my type for preference. Still, objectively I would give him an 8 out of 10."

"And the captain?" Nami asked, leaning forward eagerly, invading Robin's personal space a little though Robin didn't respond, even when the other girl's breasts pressed into her side. She likewise didn't do anything when Vivi leaned in, a blush making her face look like a tomato but unable to turn away.

Instead Robin's mind was focused on the image of Luffy standing up in the water, his towel on the ground next to the bath. "9," she breathed.

Nami blinked, confusion and other emotions welling up inside her. Really? You'd give Luffy 9 out of 10?"

Robin replied before she could stop herself. "No I think that's an accurate description of a certain part of him rather than captain-san's score on the scale."

Groaning Makino covered her ears having no desire to hear this about the young boy/girl that she had helped raise. The two younger girls however took a while to get it. When they did Vivi simply blushed, staring straight ahead as steam came out of her ears, while Nami flushed a bright red, licking her lips subconsciously.

Shaking her head at that, Robin continued to watch as Luffy turned picking up his towel, unconsciously putting on display the most delicious male rear that Robin had seen in her entire life. Then she gasped, as Luffy turned, flashing a handful of water up at her eyes, causing Robin to pull out of the form.

"Two wrongs don't make a right you know!" Luffy shouted, but did not answer any of the other boys' questions as they turned to him quizzically.

"What part of 'pirate' was vague?" Robin replied equally loudly, before shaking her head at the younger girls to either side of her. "Funs over girls, he spotted my main eye" she went on gently pushing Nami away with a hand on her stomach.

Sighing, Vivi reached for a bottle of wine, pouring some more drinks for them all in an effort to calm herself down. "Erm, yes, well, that's a pity. So, what is the story behind Zoro's giant wound? I take it that was something he received before I joined the crew?"

Nami smiled widely at Vivi's word choice there. It gave her hope that her friend would be coming with them when they left Alabasta. To help that along she began to give a rundown of the adventures that the crew had in East Blue before reaching the Grand Line. The only one Vivi had heard about before this was the crew's saving Nami from Arlong, so it made for some interesting listening to both Vivi and Robin.

Later, they joined the men outside where Robin studiously did not meet Luffy's eyes, though he seemed more amused rather than irritated at her actions. She had no way of knowing, of course, that Luffy really didn't have much body consciousness. That came from having been spied on so often as Ranma and so much time spent on a marine ship, where privacy was a premium. Yes he preferred to be private, but after watching the Sanji and the others try to perv on the girls, he wasn't about to turn around and say the girls couldn't do the same thing to them.

Nami was still laughing at both their reactions and one confusing thing about the whole event. "What I don't understand is why you joined the voyeurs Chopper," she said, looking down at the little creature as it walked between her and Vivi. "You said at one point that human girls didn't do anything for you so why did you peep?"

"I'm sorry I fall quickly to peer pressure!" Choppers shouted, hiding his face in his hands. The other boys laughed, while Sanji swooned around Nami, thanking her for the gift and promising that he would actually get her money to her as soon as they divided up the loot, whenever that occurred.

That actually made Nami feel a little wrong about the whole thing, remembering Makino and Robin's words from earlier. But she resolutely did not look in Robin or Makino's direction, simply smiling and nodding "yes Sanji-kun, that will do nicely. Just don't think I'll make a habit of charging you cash for the view. The next time you perv on us, I'm going to force you to walk the plank."

"Of course Nami-chwan, I would never impose on you in such a manner!" Sanji replied still dancing around her.

"My question is about the camel," Luffy interjected with a laugh. "I mean it wouldn't be too far-fetched for Chopper to be interested both as a doctor and as a guy simply because he ate the human-human fruit, but what the heck does a camel see in a girl?

"Their humps?" Makino asked innocently and all of them groaned or booed at the pun.

"I still can't believe you didn't join in," Nami said with a grin at both Zoro and Luffy. "You I can understand, Zoro, you've got that girlfriend in the Marines or you're in love with your swords, one of the two. But you Luffy, is there something you want to tell us? Or should I just assume that your female body isn't as much trouble as you would like us to think?" she teased.

Ignoring Zoro's snarl of outrage Luffy cocked an eyebrow, then allowed his eyes to trail down Nami's body and back up before looking over at Vivi doing the same thing to her and then to Robin. "Did you really want me to?"

While Vivi was reduced to a stuttering mess Nami blushed hotly, affected more from that, for some reason, than the earlier looks the boys had given her when she had flashed them. For her part however Robin merely chuckled, her eyes capturing Luffy's winking at him while placing her hands on her cocked hips. That seemed to take Luffy aback a little, but he looked back at her evenly.

In the background Makino chuckled, while Sanji glared. _Just because he doesn't flirt often or care much about relationships doesn't mean that Luffy doesn't know the ropes so to speak._

The crew of young people continued to talk and laugh as they entered the series of rooms that the Straw Hats had been given. This included two rooms, one for Sanji, Zoro and Chopper, and one for the girls along with a smaller room that Luffy had claimed for himself. "Captain's privilege," He'd said at the time, even if it wasn't the largest room in the suite. It did however have a balcony like the other three which was important to Luffy.

For a few moments they simply lounged around in the main sitting area, still talking. Then Vivi, who had used this time to gather her courage as she asked in a slow, soft voice, "Hey, everyone, what should I do?"

None of the Straw Hats had to ask what she meant. Nami and Chopper grinned at her, reaching over and taking her hands. "Come with us!" they said as one, then grinned at one another.

Sanji smiled, and joined in. Zoro simply nodded, while Robin and Makino did the same. But it was Luffy who Vivi watched, and he said nothing, simply smiling at her. "You'd be welcome to join us Vivi," he said simply and she smiled brightly.

"Just make sure," he went on, "that it's a choice you can live with. We're going to leave about two hours before sunrise, so you have until then to make your decision. We need time to get to the _Revenge_ and meet up with this, heh, Too-gay guy."

Later after most of them had gone to bed Luffy sat out on the balcony, going back to his meditations about the fight which had been interrupted by the goings-on in the bath. This time however he wasn't analyzing his own fight with Crocodile, but how he had acted as captain. There, Luffy thought that he had done reasonably well in splitting the crew as he had, indeed going by what Chopper and Makino had said, his sending them with Vivi had saved her from being kidnapped at the very least. Zoro and the team of Sanji and Robin had seemed to work out as well, though not without danger. _Should have remembered the Mushis damn it, that's a mistake I won't make again._

The problem was, Luffy should have sent Nami with Sanji and Robin instead of forcing her to fight. That just wasn't her, and it had put Nami in real danger since Luffy had also made a mistake in how the BW pairs acted. He had thought if Crocodile had kept Mr. 1 there, which he had, he and his partner would work together, and Zoro and Nami would have fought them as a team.

But they hadn't and since Nami had left Zoro behind, she had been alone when Doublefinger had found her. If not for Zoro's girlfriend (even in his mind, Luffy had to hold back a snicker at that) Nami might well have been overwhelmed. _I can't shelter Nami from combat all the time, but that doesn't mean I should try and force her to be something she isn't. Fighting will never be her first choice, and her style needs to reflect that._

With that in mind, Luffy decided to overhaul Nami's training. _More dodging ability for certain and Makino can try and teach her how to use pistols and other long-range weapons that and some Soru could make her able to keep away from any attacker, and also able to help Makino snipe. Maybe some Aikido too, a purely defensive style might work very well if she can also eventually learn Observation Haki. She also needs a proper weapon of some kind, but she isn't a swordswoman, and her staff is just not cutting it. Something tricky, but what? I might be good at martial arts construction, but beyond a certain point that doesn't really help me making a weapon._

Luffy turned away from the view up as the door to his suite opened and Vivi tiptoed in silently. "Is something wrong Vivi?" He asked, moving and holding up the silk blinds for her so she could join him out on the balcony.

"Nothing's wrong," responded Vivi, her face slightly flushed both from emotion and possibly from drink still. "Or yes something is wrong, but nothing physically." She hesitated. "I'm still, still thinking about what I asked earlier." She moved over to him, looking up at him from barely a few inches away. "What do you think I should do?"

Luffy cocked his head to one side staring down at her, then moved backwards taking her hand in his and pulling her gently until the two of them stood leaning against the balcony's railing, while above them the moon shone brightly. From here, Vivi could look out over the capital city, and into the desert beyond. She took a moment to do just that while Luffy watched her from one side.

"Why did you fight against Crocodile?" he asked softly. "What is your treasure, your dream? You sacrificed two years of your life investigating Baroque Works and could've thrown your own life away into the bargain. Why?"

"Because I love my country," Vivi said simply turning back to smile brightly at him, before her face fell slightly. "And that's just it. Before all this, I would've said my treasure was my country, my dream to see it at peace once more. But now that it's accomplished, I, I'm filled with a desire to see what's beyond the next horizon, like I told Nami-san earlier. I want to see what adventures are out there waiting for you! I want to go with you! I've never felt this, this at home before. I am closer with you and the others than I have been to anyone else, even Kohza and the others. I love my father, I love my country, but I still want to go with you."

Luffy nodded, looking at Vivi thoughtfully. "I suppose the question is when you close your eyes do you see yourself as Vivi the pirate? Would you be willing to leave this all behind, to never come home again? Because that is what it would take. You would have to throw away your past entirely or you'd bring more trouble to your nation in the future. Do you see yourself as a pirate, a member of the Pirate King's crew, or a princess?"

Vivi looked away, staring out over the landscape of the capital city for a time. "I wish it could be both," she said softly. "But it can't, can it?"

At Luffy simple shake of his head, Vivi sighed. "Then I suppose I see Vivi the princess. Which means I'm staying. That, that hurts."

"We'll miss you," Luffy said simply, his voice soft. "Like you said we haven't known each other long, but you became part of our nakama, and we'll all miss you Vivi, never doubt that. And if you ever need help again, don't think for one moment we won't come running," he said allowing a grin to appear on his face. "Just because we're leaving you behind doesn't mean you're no longer nakama."

"That means a lot to me, thank you" Vivi said with a small smile. Then she seemed to hesitate, flushing, though Luffy could barely make it out in the moonlight. "That," she licked her lips, "that only leaves my, my thanking you."

Luffy frowned. "Your father already thanked us earlier, your country thanked us by, well honestly letting us ransack your library, and provisioning us. And friends don't need to be paid! If this is about Nami's ongoing jokes about you paying us I…"

He was cut off by Vivi moving into his personal space, pressing her chest against his and staring up at him. "No, **I** want to thank **you**." With that she closed her eyes and leaned up, pressing her lips on his.

Luffy paused, feeling the girl's lips. They were very soft those lips, and though she wasn't nearly as stacked as Nami or the older two women, Vivi was certainly all girl with enough curves in the right places and a soft feminine smell to her that threatened to invade his senses.

Yet at the same time, Luffy wasn't all he appeared to be on the surface. He might have looked like a seventeen year old, but this was in fact his second time around so to speak. And while Ranma still found Vivi extremely attractive, he was also someone who was highly experienced in always being in control. And because he was, he could still smell the hint of alcohol on Vivi's breath, could feel her trembling, and not totally with desire, against him.

So, even as his arms went around her, gently hugging her as she did him Luffy did not deepen the kiss. Vivi pulled back after a moment, her eyes closed, but then she opened them and looked at him quizzically. There was no pain there at his rejection, simply a question. "Why?"

"Not like this," Luffy said simply. "Not for this reason. Like I said, we're friends, and I think you'd regret this down the line."

"I don't think I would!" Vivi answered with a faint embarrassed laugh making no attempt to move away while Luffy continued to hug her.

"And there's this too: I'm not my old man." Vivi cocked her head, but Luffy made no move to elaborate on that point instead saying, "I'm not going to kiss and run. It's not you, it's me."

That line caused Vivi to laugh, yet she still made no move to back away. "Would you mind just holding me for a while then?"

Luffy's lips quirked into a wry smile. "Your wish is my command Hime-sama."

That caused Vivi to giggle again, burrowing her head into his chest.

How long the two of them stood there in the moonlight neither knew, but eventually Vivi moved back, and Luffy let her go, not without a twinge of regret it had to be said. The girl was extremely attractive, and Luffy had to admit he found her character attractive too.

"It would have been fun," she said at last, smiling up at him now, a twinkle in her eyes.

"It would have Vivi," Luffy said with a laugh. "And I'm not gonna lie, it would've been my first time too." At that Vivi's smile widened slightly though she made no move to kiss him again and he went on, his voice becoming soft, tender. "But like I said, not if I'm leaving you behind."

Vivi flushed at that, but did not look away from Luffy's gaze until she laughed lightly and leaned up to kiss him on the lips for a brief second. "Thank you for that." She said pulling back and still smiling. "I'll see you tomorrow Luffy."

With that, she disappeared inside, moving through Luffy's room out the door with no one the wiser. Or so she thought. Neither she nor Luffy had noticed Nami had come out on the balcony of the girls' room. There she had hidden herself in the shadow of one of the archways, listening. Nor did either of them see the ear that had appeared on their own balcony hidden in shadow before disappearing in a few flower petals.

 **OOOOOOO**

The next morning before the sun was up Luffy roused his crew as he had promised. With Vivi leading the way they exited the palace, moving through the still silent streets of Alubarna and to the desert below the plateau. There they met the Super Spot-Billed Duck Squad that Luffy and the others who had gone to Rain Dinners had met before. Luffy nodded to them all then looked at Vivi, who smiled back. She didn't look like she had been crying, so she had thankfully not taken his rejection badly. He thought she hadn't but it was nice to be certain.

Neither Cobra nor any of the others were there. Luffy thought that was a pity. He had liked Pell or what he had seen of the flyer anyway and would've liked to say farewell to the man. Still, it was probably better this way.

Something in Vivi's stance seemed to warn Sanji and he sighed dramatically. "Alas, I think our desert princess has decided to stay in her desert, rather than risk life and limb on the oceans with us lowlifes."

Vivi nodded. "I'm sorry, I would dearly love to go with you, but I also love my country. It was for my country that I risked everything I did, and it still needs me."

Robin nodded, moved over and squeezed the girls shoulder before turning away, looking at Luffy as she passed for a moment. As the others crowded around Vivi, Luffy cocked his eyebrow at Robin and asked in a quiet voice "What?"

"You are much more mature at times then you like to let on," she said simply. Luffy furrowed his brow at that but Robin said no more, simply smiled at him, then moved past heading towards the duck she had used before.

The one Luffy had used before had already sidled up to him while the crying and sobbing was getting over with. Chopper and Nami in particular were quite sad to see Vivi not going with them. Or at least he thought Nami was. Before she reached Vivi there looked to have been a conflicted expression on Nami's face, but it was gone before he could be certain he had seen it in the first place. Now she was sobbing softly into Vivi's shoulder, while the princess held her tightly, with one of her arms while her other was around Chopper's head, who was hugging her leg just as tightly.

Sanji too was moaning, while Zoro simply stood stoically nearby. However, when Nami and Chopper eventually extricated themselves, he moved over and pulled the younger girl into a brief hug before moving away quickly without another word.

Looking at the back of his first mate's head Luffy could almost see his ears blushing. While Makino moved forward to take her own turn hugging Vivi, he nudged Nami who had moved over to him. "What?" she said looking over at him.

Again there was a flash of something in her eyes but he couldn't quite make it out so he ignored it for now. "Look at Zoro's ears," he whispered.

She did and she then giggled, through her sniffles. "Are those red or is it just me?"

"Nope they're red," Luffy said with a laugh. "I think our swordsman is a bit of a tsundere."

Nami laughed aloud, shaking her head and swatting him on the shoulder, her mood improved markedly from a moment before. By then, the others at all finished their farewells, and moved over to Super Spot-Billed Duck Squad moving onto their backs. Chopper sat with Nami in his small form.

This left Luffy alone for a moment and he stepped forward, pulling Vivi into a hug. He kept it as friendly as possible, both of his arms around her shoulders and squeezing tightly once before moving backwards. "Remember what I said last night?" he said in a low voice before repeating the words louder. "Just because we're leaving you behind, doesn't mean you're not one of our nakama. If you ever need us again, we'll come running." proclaimed Luffy, winking at the girl. "And if you ever change your mind, we'll come running for that too."

"Sanji, Nami, Chopper and even Zoro set up a cheer at that and Luffy went on quietly. "Nami also left you a gift in your room. It should help you eventually to make certain something like Crocodile's rebellion doesn't happen ever again."

Cocking her head quizzically at that, Vivi simply nodded keeping her question to herself for now. She stepped back, wiping at her now somewhat damp eyes. "Thank you! And I'll keep it in mind! Safe travels and I hope you all find everything you're seeking out there!" She said somewhat formally. Then she laughed. "And I hope that you don't drive one another insane as you do it!"

The crew all laughed, while Makino nodded her head, indicating that she thought that was actually quite a good point. With that Luffy pulled himself up into the saddle of his duck, and they sped away without another word.

Vivi stood there for a moment watching them go, her eyes lingering on Nami and Luffy in particular, before she turned back, pulling herself into Carue's saddle. "Come on my friend, we have a lot to do today!"

Truer words were never spoken as the moment she got back to the palace Vivi threw herself into the ongoing work to heal the rift between the rebels and the Royal factions setting up numerous meetings with Kohza and his officers on neutral ground. She also sent several royal auditors to work on their own books and to Rain Dinners to inspect Crocodile's old casino.

While she was doing that, Igaram was leading Chaka, Pell, and several of their trusted officers on busily rooting out any remaining Baroque Works agents. Even with the organization shut down, anyone who had a Baroque's Works mark on them had proven themselves untrustworthy to remain in the guard. Her father Cobra was also busy in long-distance communications with the World Government.

The two of them were able to enjoy a late lunch together. Cobra had just told her about the World Government sending special investigators to help figure out how Crocodile had funded everything, as well as the true depth of Crocodile's betrayal of his status as Shichibukai when the captain of the guard burst in, carrying several papers.

For a moment he seemed to sag in relief at seeing Vivi there shaking his head violently to rid it of some horrible thoughts. Before either Royal could ask him what he was relieved about he moved forward to slam the stack of papers down on the table between them. "Hime-sama, Your Majesty, you should look at this."

Igaram spread the papers out so that each of them was visible from both Cobra and Vivi's place, causing Cobra to gasp in shock, and Chaka and Pell to move from their positions nearby where they had been guarding their King even here to look over their shoulders. Vivi however simply laughed aloud shaking her head. "Oh my, they'll be happy about that I think. Except for perhaps Mr. Bushido and Nami-san. Mr. Bushido is only barely ahead of chef-san now and as for Nami-san..."

On the table were new bounty posters for the three main combatants of the Straw Hat crew as well as Nami. However like Sanji's picture, Nami's was a drawing and it was not very flattering at all. Yes, her curves were shown if in a cartoonish fashion but her face was squashed, almost like it was made out of marshmallow or something, with fat cheeks while her face wore a sneer that to Vivi's certain knowledge Nami had never worn. She also didn't actually have a name, the title of the bounty poster read 'unknown female Straw Hat Pirates'. Her bounty was 10,000, rather a small amount for any Grand Line bounty.

"'Unknown female?'" Vivi mused with a giggle. "I don't know if Nami-san will be happy about that, or utterly horrified at the picture."

"I personally am just happy that you weren't given a bounty," Cobra said, putting an arm around his daughter's shoulder as both of his guards nodded their heads solemnly.

"How can you take this so calmly?! Look at the bounty amounts!" Igaram shouted.

Sanji's bounty was now 80,000,000 Beli. Something odd about his poster caught Vivi's attention though: it said 'wanted alive' rather than 'wanted dead or alive'. That was odd, but not nearly as odd as the actual pictures still being used for Sanji in Vivi's opinion.

In contrast, Zoro's hadn't actually gone up that much, only being 85,000,000 now. The words and picture hadn't changed either. Vivi took a moment to wonder about the rivalry between the chef and the swordsman and what this would do to it. _Nothing good for certain, unless you're watching from the sidelines anyway,_ she decided with a wholly inappropriate giggle.

However, by far and away the biggest change had been reserved for Straw Hat Luffy. His picture hadn't changed either, about his amount had nearly tripled. "130,000,000 Beli, such a massive amount," Vivi mused. "Is that because he was able to beat Crocodile or because he killed him?"

"Hard to say, but it's certain that worried the Marines. The World Government is also very worried about it, though talking to their representatives I think they're worried about something else entirely on top of that which they weren't willing to share with me," Cobra mused. "Still, Igaram is right. With bounties like this, they're going to run into serious opposition, Commodores and above at a minimum. Do you think they'll be able to handle that level of conflict?"

"I think that the crew can handle it," Vivi said, more calmly than Cobra would've assumed. "In fact, at least three of them are going to enjoy the challenge." She chuckled and after that quickly finished her meal, going back to her room to change her clothing for an on-site interview.

She'd have to take Carue to it, or perhaps Pell, she thought to herself as she entered the room. Considering that it was going to be with former rebels Vivi decided to use Carue. She'd be a little late, but arriving with a Royal guardsmen, especially one with Pell's reputation, would send a negative message that she didn't want to convey just yet.

As Vivi was rummaging through her clothing to decide what to wear and waiting for her maid to arrive to help her, Vivi suddenly remembered what Luffy had told her that morning. Looking around, she tried to think of where Nami would have put a present for her where others wouldn't be able to notice it. It was only when she looked under the bed that she found it, stuffed between two of the bars holding up the mattress. It was a small chest about as long as her forearm.

When she opened it, Vivi found it contained a largefruit of some kind. Its shape was like a jujube, but its outer skin had odd whirls on it that she had never seen before. Vivi stared at it for a moment then realization dawned as she very gently pulled it out, her eyes continuing to widen as she looked at it. _Oh my God,_ she thought to herself, looking around to make certain that she was alone, before tucking it back in to the chest and hiding it away once more. _A kingly gift indeed, but one which will bring a lot of attention I can't afford just yet._ She'd have to think about what to do with the Suna-Suna Fruit later. Right now, she had other things to do.

 **OOOOOOO**

Luffy and the rest of his crew were not well pleased to find that the _Resolve_ had been joined by another ship. On it were around fifty people and yes, as they had been warned, all of them dressed in ballerina tutus. This included Mr. 2, who was standing on the prowl of the _Resolve_ , waving theatrically at them.

"Hello, hello dear compatriots! Fellow pirates like we need to stick together of course if we are to get out of these dire straits! He even had the nerve to wink at Makino. "I am glad to see that you are alright my dear, hopefully your captain has agreed to our deal, and ara who is that little cutie-chan~~?"

As Chopper leaped to hide behind Nami (getting it right this time) Luffy growled, shaking in anger and disgust. "One, never say that again. Two, stay away from me, if you come within range you're going to be singing soprano. Three, she's not my lady friend as your tone seems to imply, if anything she's sort of my big sister."

"Big sister, little sister, it tends to vary with circumstances," Makino murmured. She looked at Mr. 2 closely. While this wasn't the first time she had seen his actual face, he definitely did not look as if he healed up from their fight as she had thought he would. That was interesting, and it also meant that he probably didn't have a doctor on board.

"And fourth and most importantly, get… off… my… ship!" Luffy growled, his eyes narrowing as he bared his teeth at the other man. "There's a word for people who board a ship without permission."

Mr. 2 laughed, then hopped over the side of the ship to land on the ground. Before he could say anything however Sanji got into Mr. 2's face. "I realize we're supposed to be working together and two crews are better than one, but you did try to kill or kidnap Vivi-chan, and fought Makino-chwan! What price do you think I would be taking out of your hide right now if you'd hurt her precious face ehhhh!? What shitty nether regions of hell do you think you'd visit for that transgression, **EHHHHH**!?"

"Enough of that Sanji!" Nami said, grabbing his shoulder and pulling him away. Ignoring the fact that his visible eye had turned into a heart at her touch, she turned to Mr. 2. "You have a plan?"

"I'd say he does," Zoro said, looking at the super-spy's crew. Despite being dressed up like ballerinas, all of them were hard at work trying to make their ship look like the _Resolve_. Since they were both schooners, this wasn't an impossible task and Zoro had immediately understood why he was doing so. "Interesting idea."

Luffy saw this and sighed. "I might as well pitch in. But first, Chopper, can you find Banchi?"

Nodding Chopper moved over to the edge of the river, transforming to his monster form as he did. In that form he was able to stick his upper body into the water, shouting out for Banchi. An instant later the large turtle in question arose out of the riverbed. He stuck his long neck out over the side of the river. It made some hisses and noises, looking expectantly at Sanji who smiled moving over to it and holding out a cigarette and a lighter. "What else did he say there Chopper?"

Chopper quickly transformed back to his normal form, shifting his face around so he looked like a heavily-jowled older man. "Oh ho, so you lot are still alive? Interesting. And I'd guess you want your money brought up? I moved it all away from where you sank it when this lot showed up just in case."

"Ahh, Banchi thank you!" Nami said, racing forward and throwing her arms around the told turtle's neck in a hug. Unlike with Eyelashes Banchi didn't seem to be a pervert thankfully, taking this sign of affection stoically. An instant later, Nami turned glaring at the boys. "Well, what are you lot waiting for, get our treasure out of that river!"

"Hai Nami-chwan!" Sanji shouted obediently, stripping off his shoes and outer jacket. Zoro however just crumbled and moved off to examine Mr. 2's ship.

Laughing Luffy threw the girl a mock salute, amused as always by how important gold and money were to the orange-haired girl. Still, given how all of the money she had earned through her thievery before this had gone to paying off Arlong, and then been left behind for her fellow villagers, he could understand. _So long as she doesn't try to seriously take control of the ship's purse in the future. I have plans for that cash, and any more we can acquire along the way._

Luffy moved to the river, and after making certain that his shirt wouldn't become see-through dove into the water. The redhead and Sanji moved down into the river following the silhouette of Banchi as he moved around. the silt in the river made visibility near impossible, but they were still able to follow the large turtle's movements.

It took them a few minutes to find the treasure chests and bags of gold, by which time Sanji had to surface for air. Nami and Robin hurled several ropes down from the deck of the Resolve as Mr. 2 and Zoro and Makino talked about their plans going forward.

At the same time Chopper said goodbye to the ducks, giving one of them a Den-Den Mushi to give to Vivi from the ship's supply. With it, she would be able to talk to them regardless of distance, and they wouldn't need to assign her a frequency, since the Mushi in question was already paired with the crew's. However, that didn't mean they couldn't be overheard, so it could only be used in emergencies.

With Luffy tying the ropes to the chests the girls were able to haul the treasure chests up to the surface and then onto the ship. The bags containing jewels and gold jangled as they came, and soon Mr. 2's oddly dressed crew stopped their work to stare at the gold coming up. But with the threat of the marine cordon to break, the normal piratical response to such treasure was in abeyance and a barked command from their captain sent them back to work.

Soon the job was done, and Luffy exploded out of the water, gasping in air before making for the bank. As the redhead came ashore, Mr. 2 noticed her and cocked his head. "Ara, I didn't see redhead-chan there before~, where did she come from?"

Zoro shrugged unconcern. "Oh, that's just our captain, he's got this weird curse, apparently got it from someone he met as a baby."

"We'd prefer you and your crew never mention it or better yet forget you saw the curse. We use his female form occasionally to turn in bounties." Makino interjected. "It was some kind of Devil Fruit power he was exposed to as a baby, but we've turned it to our advantage."

A normal pirate captain would have objected to that. While it wasn't exactly against the unwritten code most pirates followed, turning in live bounties was something that only a few Shichibukai would do. After all, a death in battle was to be preferred than either a life in prison or death by execution.

But Mr. 2 wasn't any pirate. No, he was not just a pirate at all, but an **okama** pirate, one who had set out to sea to find a single person, a person who was known to have that power. "He, she, your captain, don't even joke~~!" Mr. 2 roared, leaping with a twirl to land in front of Luffy as she pulled herself out of the water. "You, you have such an amazing body~~, can you tell me anything about the man who gifted you with it?"

"'Gifted me with it'?" Luffy asked incredulously. "This body isn't a gift, it is a curse! And why the hell do you want to know?"

"I have been searching for the king of the Okama Kingdom, Lord Ivankov for years that was what first brought me into contact with Crocodile in the first place!" Your curse, I don't know why it's connected to water, but it sounds like something the Hormone-Hormone fruit could do~~." Mr. 2 said.

"Yes, the longevity of the curse and the fact it activates via application of water is interesting, isn't it?" Robin mused aloud, one eyebrow twitching upwards as she looked at Luffy and Makino. Makino's expression and body language didn't change but-Luffy didn't meet her eyes. It was understandable given he was talking to Mr. 2, but Robin felt there was more to it.

"Why… ya'know what nevermind, I think I can guess." The redhead muttered, shuddering as he looked at Mr. 2's normal face and male body stuffed into a ballerina's outfit complete with swan costume, pushing the man away as he tried to get into her personal space. "And what did I tell ya about coming near me!?"

When he noticed the redhead's foot rising as if to kick out Mr. 2 backed away and Luffy went on. "As for your question, I have no idea where Ivankov is. I only know his name because my Ji-kure told me about it. He might have been captured by him, that could be where I was exposed to his power." Luffy said with a shrug.

He had no reason to tell Mr. 2 about Ivankov being a member of the Revolutionary Army, and no wish for his connection to Dragon to come out. Unlike his relation to Garp, no one but Garp seemed to have made the connection between him and Dragon, and he wanted to keep it that way. Even on his crew, the only one who knew was Zoro, and Luffy knew the secret was safe with is first mate.

"Ji-kure?" Mr. 2 asked.

"Monkey D. Garp." Makino supplied before Luffy could, holding out a hot cup of water towards the redhead. "And again we'd prefer if that connection didn't become common knowledge."

Mr. 2 exclaimed in shock at that, while his crew jabbered a little in fear in the background at the mention of the hero of the marines, the one who had continually hounded even the Pirate King himself. This let Luffy dump the hot water over his head, then look over at Robin and Banchi. "So, is Banchi going to come with us or what?"

Robin shook his head in the negative and Luffy turned to look at Mr. 2's ship. "Nami, Makino and Chopper, get the gold and stuff into the hold and Nami, check your trees to make sure they're alright. Makino after that, take over the crow's nest just in case and Chopper, get the books and stuff stowed. Zoro, Sanji, let's see what Mr. 2 and his crew have been doing."

As they moved off to his ship, Mr. 2 followed, twirling several times. The twirls stopped abruptly as Luffy asked, "So, what's your real name swan-guy? We can't keep calling you Mr. 2, it just sounds shitty."

Sanji nearly choked on his cigarette as he burst out laughing while Zoro chuckled too. Mr. 2 however seemed to quiver in rage, about a second away from launching what would be a very foolish attack on the Straw Hat captain. "GAHHH! Don't even joke~~! Do you have any idea how many jokes like that I've heard from my fellow agents! My name is Bon, Bon Clay!"

Making Bon Clay's ship look like the _Resolve_ took them about an hour longer with Ranma and the two other boys, both of whom had learned some Martial Arts Construction from their captain. That combined with the work that had already been done by Bon's crew allowed them to finish quickly. Now the two ships really did look alike, even their flags, save for a bit of the prow and the number of cannons they both had. After that, Luffy called his crew and Bon together for a planning session.

"The plan is simple enough, but we need to figure out where each of our positions are in this." he began. "Sanji, Nami, Makino and Bon's crew will be on defense. Bon Clay, Chopper, Zoro and I will be on offense. Robin and Bon Clay's crew will man the cannons. Nami will make sure our ships are moving in tandem as fast as possible and Sanji with Makino will protect the ship."

Sanji frowned a little. On one hand he was quite happy to be given orders to defend the ladies, something he would do automatically. But on the other, he had to ask. "Why is Chopper and Number 2 here on offense? Shouldn't we have more on offense than that?"

"No!" Bon Clay said promptly, twitching at the way Sanji had said his former codename. "Remember the plan cook-san~~! He said twirling in place and sending a shiver down Sanji's spine. "We're not trying to fight the Marines, were trying to fight through them~~~! That means we need to keep any offense we launch small and easy to pull back."

"Besides," Luffy said with a grin. "I doubt Bonnie boy will be able to kick away the cannonballs like you can."

Bon Clay winced at the very idea and at the jibe at his name and Sanji nodded slowly. "I'll only be able to do it for short amount of time before the bruises start adding up," he warned.

"Hah, if you spent more time training rather than flirting you might actually be useful away from your kitchen, aho- cook" Zoro said shaking his head.

"Enough," Luffy said stepping as Sanji made to lunge forward. "The day's getting on and we need to get going."

"Luffy's right," Nami said from beside her captain, staring up at the sky. "We need to leave within the next few minutes to catch the desert wind, that'll help us make good time downriver. But if we don't go soon we won't be able to use it the whole way."

"I understand your point," Robin said looking at Luffy and addressing the problem at hand. "But I still think we need at least one more person on offense. No offense to Clay-kun, but he isn't worth an entire ship's galley's worth of crewmen."

"That's true," Bon said hesitantly.

"Makino can't use Geppo," Luffy replied. "And Nami's already had her fight for the next few weeks. Chopper's small enough even Zoro can carry him in the air without it throwing off his Geppo, and he's as good a fighter as Bon is."

That statement, while possibly not true, served its purpose in making the reindeer straighten his spine. He had been looking a little worried about being part of the attacking force, but his captain's confidence in him made him want to prove Luffy right.

Smiling in relief at that statement Nami looked at Robin. "Robin? You think you can do offense and defense?"

Robin frowned then slowly shook her head. "I won't be able to concentrate on both firing the cannons and taking care of any enemy crew members. I could switch from one to another quickly however if need be."

"I can also loan you some of my men to man your ship's cannons." The Okama pirate captain interjected.

"If we could spread them out sure. But could your crew man your cannons along with ours and work the sails with what was left?" Luffy asked skeptically.

"Not as well as we would just our own, but that's the point isn't it Luffy-cha~~n, getting both of our ships away. In fact, on that topic I have another idea. Let my babies show you another specialty of the okama crew!" With that Bon Clay turned away and shouted at his crew. "Babies, show them what you can do!"

With that several of the okama's crew came over from their ship. Each of them was dressed in a way that they sort of looked like one of the Straw Hats. If you squinted or didn't know them anyway. Their attempts to look like women were especially cringeworthy, and Sanji wasn't the only Straw Hat to gag.

Then Bon Clay showed his own contribution. "Hehehe, and I'll be joining in too~~! Watch this." With that he reached out to Nami, tapping her face lightly before she could rear back. Then he touched his own face, and there stood Nami to the light.

Where before the swan ballerina outfit Bon wore had looked disturbing, that changed dramatically on Nami's body, and Sanji's nose began to bleed as Luffy blushed. "Hehehe, you see," Bon said, even his voice sounding slightly like Nami's, if with a horrible accent. "And like Luffy-chan's it's a full body change, look!"

With that Bon opened 'her' front flashing the boys. Luffy, Zoro and Sanji all gasped, blood gushing from their noses for a moment before they all felt hands covering their eyes courtesy of Robin. An instant later they heard a scream of "Stop that!" and a thump of a skull impacting the deck.

When Robin canceled her powers, the boys saw that Bon had been hammered into the _Resolve's_ deck, and Nami was standing over her body double with a visible tick on her head and a smoking fist. She looked at them, seemed to consider attacking the boys, and then thought better of it as Robin and Makino looked at her.

She did have to smile slightly however at Luffy's reaction, thinking that at least she knew it was self-control rather than lack of interest which led him to not join the other boys in the bathhouse the night before. While she still wasn't certain why that was important to her, Nami knew it was, and that made her happy right now despite the embarrassment of Bon flashing the others with her body.

"Erm, why did that bother you?" Chopper asked hesitantly only to let loose an eep and hide behind Zoro, or rather lean against him, having gotten it wrong this time when Nami glared at him. "I, I mean, you, you flashed us in the baths last night."

"One, I was sort of drunk, two, that was me doing it. I hate the idea of someone else having access to my body like that! And three, because I said so!" Nami growled out. "That's all you need to know."

The other women present nodded. After all, 'because I said so' was a perfectly reasonable reason to them.

After Bon was revived and forced to return to his normal form (much to the horror of Sanji) the discussion ended quickly. The two crews would be spread out onto both ships, to better make certain that they both escaped initially and to make certain that the various disguises that Bon Clay's crew put on worked. Zoro and Chopper would move with Makino to Bon's ship, while he and their lookalikes would join the other Straw Hats on the _Resolve_.

After that, the two ships quickly set sail down the rivers length and out to sea. With the wind behind them coming out of the desert and Nami's having already mapped the river to a fare thee well on their way out, it was easy and much faster than coming up the river had been.

But despite that speed, it wasn't fast enough forward to get from the watchers that Hina had put on every river to get word out to her fleet...

 **OOOOOOO**

"Prepare all ships for the black cage maneuver!" Hina said, pulling on her officers gloves and striding out from her officer's quarters, where she had been meeting with Smoker and Tashigi. "We have pirates to capture. Hina confused about why there are two ships coming out rather than one, but that will not matter, we will still capture them is that understood!?"

"Hai Captain Hina-sama!" shouted her crew in reply. They immediately began to scramble into action, pushing her flagship out from the port they had been anchored in and sending out orders to the rest of her scattered flotilla. There would be no way she could bring all of her ships into action, but the Black Cage maneuver only needed a minimum of three ships to work. Indeed, given the special ammunition that was an integral part of the plan even a single galleon might have been enough, but Hina wasn't one to leave a battle to chance.

After making certain her crew was hopping to obey her orders Hina turned back to Smoker. "Are you sure about that you wish to step aside for this? Hina bemused."

Smoker shook his head. "We might not like it, but the Marines owe them at least a little bit for taking care of Crocodile for us. I want to give them at least a head start."

The fact that Luffy had him at his mercy not once, but twice, and had not taken advantage of it was something else on Smoker's mind. That rankled up there with stopping Crocodile seemingly for no reason other than the fact they had discovered his intentions towards Alabasta or had perhaps been paid to by the princess. There were hints of some kind of connection there, but Nefeltari Vivi hadn't been seen in Luffy's company, so if the connection was there, it wasn't a close one.

The pink-haired marine captain winced at that, understanding what Smoker wasn't saying. After all Luffy had her at his mercy at one point too, and not only had he not taken advantage of it, he might well have saved her from further injury. "Hina understands. Your help would be useful, but not necessary. Hina will stop them with her tactics and her ships alone."

"Is that what your sense of justice is worth!?" said a voice from above them, causing both captains to stiffen and turn to see who had spoken. There hopping in the air above them was vice Admiral Doberman hopping in the air via Geppo.

Doberman was heavily scarred, with four X-shaped scars on his face and two on his neck, and some old injury had destroyed the pupil in his left eye. He had a curling mustache and brown hair reaching down to his shoulder. He wore an officer's coat loose on his shoulders, the stripes of which were in a zig-zag pattern. Underneath he wore a dark purple version of a marine's dress uniform.

Currently Doberman looked to be sweating, breathing heavily. No matter who you were, hopping between one island and the next via Geppo and Soru was tough as hell.

He settled down on the deck for a moment, snapping an order for a nearby marine to grab him a bottle of water and some food before glaring hard at Smoker. "Is that what your dedication to justice is worth!? You would put your personal idea of what is right and wrong over that of your superior officers in order to pay off a debt you think we owe this rookie pirate? You would presume to speak for the Marines?"

"Sir," Smoker said biting off the word "I merely think that we should wait for a few hours, let them have a head start as payment for doing our dirty work. That's all I said Sir."

"That is enough to make you sound like a traitor!" Doberman roared, getting in Smoker's face. "We must nip this new evil in the bud before it can grow further! You will join with Captain Hina and myself in doing this, or I will label you as a traitor and execute myself right here."

Smoker grimaced, but stepped back and saluted quickly. "Very well Sir, my ship and I will join the battle."

"Good." With that settled Doberman turned to Hina, his eyes moving up and down her body in a very subtle way that she still caught before he addressed her. "And you, your ship will be my new flagship for this maneuver. Your fleet is already in the process of moving?"

"Yes sir," Hina said, crisply coming to a salute trying to ignore the bubbling sense of rage going through her. "We will be using the Black Cage maneuver. We slow the pirate vessels at long range, then close and board them. I have never allowed anyone to escape me once they are within my cage."

"Very good," Doberman said with a smile. "With that, myself, your and Smoker's abilities, there is no way this upstart pirate crew will be to get away. I will personally take on their captain, and bring this evil to justice."

As he turned to stride off towards the tiller, Smoker and Hina took a moment to look at one another, then looked over at Tashigi who finally relaxed after having sprung to attention when Doberman appeared, feeling very uncomfortable about being around a Vice-Admiral, let alone speaking in his presence. "What do you think?" Smoker asked under his breath.

"I think that Doberman is in for a bit of a surprise. We'll see, it will be interesting whatever happens. Hina worried, but interested."

 **OOOOOOO**

About an hour after they had reached the ocean, the two pirate ships found themselves slowly being circled by two Marine schooners, who kept just on the horizon. Luffy nodded grimly. "They'll keep us in sight until they can call up the big boys, then come in from every side. We can't stop, not unless we want to fight the entire force."

Zoro was standing beside him for now, putting off the time he'd have to transfer to Bon's ship to join Chopper, but knowing that time was here now. "Could we, you think?" His voice wasn't quite questioning, simply curious as to where his captain would rate their chances in that large a fight.

"Probably Zoro," Luffy replied. "We'd end up killing most of them though, and while I have a major problem with the World Government and a lot of the higher ups, most of the Marine grunts are just doing what they're told thinking they really are fighting the good fight. And in a lot of ways they are, remember that not all pirates act like we do, hell not even most."

"I won't hesitate to kill them if I have to or if they're obeying particularly horrible orders, but not in a situation like this." He laughed suddenly. "Besides, isn't it a pirate's lot in life to be chased?"

"What about your Haoshoku?"

"No way!" Luffy said promptly, shaking his head emphatically. "You think that taking out Crocodile painted a big target on our back? If the World Government finds out I have Haoshoku they'll start sending admirals after us. People who are tougher than any Shichibukai."

"I see," Zoro said, frowning. "You sure about that?"

"The best we could hope for in that situation is they send Ji-kure after us. I'm not certain which one of us would win that fight Zoro," Luffy said. "But I know for a fact that we wouldn't have a ship afterwards."

 _I suppose I could break out the rising Dragon technique, yeah…this might be the perfect moment for it…_ Luffy smiled suddenly, causing Zoro to cock an eyebrow at him but his captain waved him off. "Just thought of something I can use if we get encircled. I don't think the ship would be very happy with me afterwards, and I'd probably break Nami's mind a little, but it would be fun to see the effect on the Marines if I tried it."

"Something tells me I don't want to know," Zoro said with a shark line grin. "And only half because it would spoil the surprise."

The two men laughed, then Zoro left, hopping out over the water to the other pirate vessel. A moment later, Makino, who was on look out on said ship shouted down at the same time her look alike on the _Resolve_ did the same. "I see three galleons ahead of us sailing in formation ahead of us. They're spreading out to bring us to action wherever we turn."

"Nami?" Luffy asked, smiling confidently over at his navigator.

Said navigator flushed in pride at the look in her captain's eyes for a moment before glancing up at the sky. A second later she dropped a rope over the side, and after deliberating nodded her head sharply. "The current's going to turn to the east of our current heading in about ten minutes, after that the wind driving us from Alabasta will die but it will be quickly replaced by one pushing us southeast from our current heading. If we can take advantage of that, we can ride it at least three times the speed we're going now."

Seeing Luffy nod, Nami began to operate the tiller as Luffy shouted out their plan to Bon, who relayed the orders to his ship via the Den-Den Mushi set the Straw Hats had bought in Logue Town. The two pirate ships began to turn under Nami's shouted commands, while the schooners from behind slowly began to sail ever nearer. At the same time the galleons became visible even from the deck of the two ships.

`The galleons in question were massive ships of war, easily half again the keel size of a schooner, with a far wider body to boot. Where the _Resolve_ had originally had twenty-two guns to a side, these behemoths had that number of guns per gun deck, of which they had three to a side. The three ships spread out, trying to make certain both to get in the two pirate ship's way and make certain they couldn't make a sudden dash to the west of their current course.

About ten minutes later, Nami's awaited wind change hit, and the two pirate schooners began to pick up speed. This put one of the galleons, the western most, out of position entirely to engage them, falling away and unable to tack into the wind. This left the two pirate ships facing two schooners coming up with the same wind behind them as was no pushing the pirates along, and the two galleons still able to range on them if they kept to their current course. Unfortunately since the galleons had started outside of the pirate ships breaking out from Alabasta, there was no way to fully break away.

About an hour later the first galleon and the _Resolve_ entered cannon range. The forward guns along their starboard sides opened fire, the marines firing first since they not only had more guns but more ammunition to spare. The nature of that ammunition however took the pirates by surprise. Instead of firing cannonballs the guns of the galleon shot out long spears of heavy metal. They looked like ballista bolts of some kind, and Luffy wondered why they were being used rather than regular cannon rounds.

"Now these I can kick away a lot more easily than cannons!" Sanji shouted with glee. Cigarette still in his mouth Sanji leaped up from the _Resolve_ , smashing two of them away with a spinning kick that smacked one into the second.

At the same time, Luffy and Zoro went to work blocking the others, Zoro having moved over to join Chopper on Bon's ship. "Robin, oh and you fruitcakes too, fire!" Luffy shouted at the top of his lungs while smashing several of the ballista bolts away.

At Luffy's command both pirate schooners opened fire with their broadsides. Bon's crew followed a second later and while they weren't very accurate, their ship actually had more guns then the _Resolve_. Their first few shots went wild the next few began to hammer at the schooners trying to catch up from behind, trading cannon balls with the strange spear things, which, thanks to Zoro and Chopper, never actually hit.

But unlike the trailing ship, the _Resolve_ 's target was one of the galleons, specifically the one coming in from the west. A schooner should never have been able to trade blows with a galleon, but thanks to Luffy blocking their ballistae-like ammunition from actually hitting, the schooner was actually the first to draw real blood. That wouldn't last however, as those three galleons were spreading out once more. There was a crash, and one of the galleon's gun-ports, almost exploded with splinters as a lucky cannonball entered it, taking out the gun inside, smashing it off its runners and sending its crew flying.

"Hey Zoro!" Luffy began, negligently smacking aside one of the metal spears while hopping in midair. , then grabbing another out of the air before using it as a giant weed whacker to smack several more. "How's your long-range attack these days?"

"Fair," Zoro replied, also shouting to be heard over the intervening distance and the sound of battle. "Not where I want it to be just yet, it loses a lot of its slicing power the further away the blast goes, but I can at least cut metal now. And I've come up with three different levels for the same technique." He demonstrated this as he was talking, using the same long range slashing attack that had taken out Mr. 1 to slice several incoming spears into pieces, blowing the parts back out into several more knocking them off course.

"Good." Luffy said, then aimed using the spear he was using as a makeshift weapon toward the lead galleon, the one that even now was turning to bring its starboard broadside to bear in a classic 'crossing the T maneuver. "Aim for the water line," Luffy ordered, then hurled the spear forward with all his considerable strength, before following it up with several dozen Rankyakus.

Zoro grinned, then taken Wado Ichimonji's hilt into his mouth. Tensing he leaped into the air and aimed forward at the galleon, shouting, "Hyakuhachi Pondo Ho! (108 pound cannon!)"

Luffy's attacks hit first, the spear smashing into the wood of the ship right at the waterline. It plunged into the wood with only slightly less force than a cannon could have imparted, smashing deep into the wooden hull and sending splinters flying inside. Then his Rankyaku hit, slicing into the wood in multiple sections, letting water start to flow in. Then Zoro's attack arrived, slicing into, widening the wounds the ship had sustained into a series of long gashes where water flooded in far faster than before.

The galleon immediately began to list as it took on water, wallowing now and no longer able to make any headway. It still fired at them, but now as Luffy ordered Nami to break further east, they began to move out of its cannon range on an angle to bring them around the ship's aft.

In response however the ship trying to attack them from the side switched tactics. Instead of staying at range it began to close, charging straight on in an effort to board one of the two pirate ships. It also switched out from firing the spears to regular cannon balls.

"That's one my babies~~!" Bon said from his position on the Straw Hat's shouting the words in order to encourage his crew both aboard the Resolve and his own ship via the Den-Den Mushi. "But we still need to take out this last galleon. Then we're free!"

"Luffy!" Makino interrupted the other pirate captain, her voice nearly unheard over the battle, the wind and waves. "We have at least two more galleons out there trying to cut us off from the open sea."

"Keep firing at the schooners!" Luffy ordered, looking over at Robin, who was sitting under the mainmast, her arms crossed and her eyes closed. Despite concentrating on the literally thousands of arms and feet she had conjured to work the guns on both ships with the Okama pirates she was still able to nod at him before going back to work.

From the Crow's nest of the trailing ship Makino began to fire the first of a dozen rifles she'd taken from Bon's crew. She didn't fire at the incoming spears, she could not imbue haki into bullets after all, though she had heard some people could do so. Instead she shot at the people manning those cannons. Twice she was able to kill a gunner before he could actually fire the cannon.

And once she was able to wing a shot through a gun port into an officer with a lighter as he was moving to light the fuse of an cannon. He fell backward, the lighter going out of sight. Then there was an explosion inside the ship and the schooner in question immediately trimmed sails and broke off sternward.

"Bon, Chopper are you ready?" Luffy said, seeing the two new galleons incoming. The third galleon they had left behind was still trying to catch up, but it's steersman didn't seem the best, and it was still losing ground.

"Yes, but you still haven't told us how we're getting over there." Bon said. For his part however Chopper moved away from the railing where he had been guarding the Okama's with his guard point, transforming to his normal body as he moved to the prow. There Zoro grabbed him up and began to hop towards the target ship.

Luffy grinned. "Clench your teeth!" he ordered and without further warning Luffy twisted his foot impacting Bon's rear in a roundhouse kick, sending him flying over the water towards the charging galleon.

"Are you sure you weren't holding a grudge against him for hurting Makino?" Zoro asked as Luffy joined him for a moment in the air.

"Maybe a little," Luffy said with a laugh before breaking off towards the one remaining schooner. Once in position above the ship he began to rain down Rankyakus onto the crew below, cutting into the rigging and sending several of the men flying overboard. He was very careful however as to how he targeted them. He didn't want a bloodbath here, just to get away and maybe give the Marines a bloody nose, that was all.

 **OOOOOOO**

Unfortunately for Luffy, some complications had just arrived. At the point the last schooner fell back, its rigging ruined and its crew in disarray, the two galleons carrying the three Marine officers had sailed over the horizon. To their horror they saw one of their ships slowly sinking, with one more well out of position. One of the schooners was also falling away, fire trailing from its gun ports. Then they saw at least two, possibly more pirates leap into the air and move towards the remaining schooner and the charging galleon.

"They must not escape!" Doberman shouted hopping into the air via Geppo. "For Absolute Justice! Circle them and destroy their ships! I will deal with Straw Hat Luffy myself!"

Smoker nodded, already moving into smoke form and heading out over the waters. "I'll take the swordsman and the other two."

"Then that leaves Hina to take on their crews," Hina said calmly, her eyes narrowed in fury at how her heretofore unbeatable Black Cage had been broken. "The ships will advance on an angle, we must cut them off before they can leave us behind! Hina determined. Once I leave, Lieutenant Tashigi is to assume command." With that she leaped into the air racing out after her two fellow officers.

On the Smoker's ship Tashigi received the relayed orders via the Den-Den Mushi, and took command of the crew, their galleon now in the lead as they moved to cut across the route the two pirate ships were following. "Man the cannons with a mix of the special munitions and regular rounds." She ordered. "Deck guns to concentrate on the enemy's rigging, the others on their hulls!"

 **OOOOOOO**

Luffy was the first to spot the three marines coming towards them through the air, and he frowned looking at the first man, unable to see his rank insignia first. When he did, Luffy bit back a curse, retreating towards The Resolve before moving to engage the man directly. "Zoro! You and the others are on your own. I think Smoker's incoming so you're going to have to deal with him too." Luffy said into his Den-Den Mushi, hoping that all of the combined crews could hear him.

"What!?" Zoro said, pulling his Mushi out of his pocket while absentmindedly dodging a musket ball before sending a slash towards the man who had fired at him. "I can't infuse haki into my weapons yet!"

"Your long-range and air-based attacks should work to keep him at bay at least, just don't get encircled by his smoke," Luffy said crisply, hopping back up into the air. "I'm going to have my own guest in a minute."

Just then there was a brief lull in the fight around him and Zoro looked out to sea on the port side of the galleon he was fighting on where he was able to see the unknown Marine coming towards them, speeding through the air via a mix of Geppo and Soru. He couldn't make out his rank from this angle, but the seriousness that Luffy had just spoken with told him this was a serious threat. "Good luck!"

Luffy moved towards Doberman quickly, hopping in midair directly above him for a moment as Doberman hopped up towards him. "How is that a pirate knows one of the Rokushiki?"

"I'm very damn good at learning from seeing them in action." Luffy replied dryly, seeing no need to educate the man if he wasn't already aware of Luffy's familial connection to Garp.

Doberman's eyes narrowed that then he shouted in a loud voice. "Monkey D. Luffy, you are hereby under arrest. Come quietly, and you may not be sentenced to death."

"You really suck at this good cop thing don't you?" Luffy retorted. He pulled off his hat stuffing it into his ki space so fast that even Doberman could barely see what had happened, not that he understood it. "Can I at least have the name of the vice Admiral they were stupid enough to order after me?" Luffy went on, already beginning to use the Saotome 'Make'em mad, make 'em stupid'™ technique.

"Vice-Admiral Doberman. And these are going to be the last word you ever hear pirate scum. For Absolute Justice!" With that Doberman charged forward, his sword coming out of its scabbard in a sliver of steel. The slash however was a faint and even as Luffy dodged, one of his hands came off his hilt and thrust out, black with haki.

Luffy however blocked it with his own haki infused fist, smacking it to the side and returning a punch that took Doberman in the chest. Again there was a ring of haki against haki, and Doberman grunted, staggering backwards in midair for a moment for you could get control of his air walk. He glared at Luffy then came in again.

Luffy met him, and canceled his own Geppo to better use his legs to attack, and his style seemed to infuriate Doberman. As fast as Doberman was, and he was **fast** , faster even than Crocodile, Luffy was able to use his mastery of the aerial style of Anything Goes to redirect or simply dodge any punch coming towards them.

In return, he was landing hits on Doberman to little effect. Doberman could use haki better than Luffy could at this point, and his arms were constantly black up to his elbows. He couldn't use it on his entire body apparently, but his natural toughness and his Tekkai technique were perfect, smoothly activating and then disengaging when he moved.

For a little while it was a stalemate with Luffy unable to land any telling hits, and Doberman unable to actually hit at all. But Luffy was able to direct Doberman away from the main battle towards the two oncoming galleons, who had just entered cannon range of the pirate ships. As they started to cross the T despite Nami's best efforts to twist away, Luffy's fists suddenly blurred, even to Doberman's senses.

There was the sound of ripping canvas, and Doberman clenched his teeth, his Busoshoku activating in defense mode. But his Geppo wasn't up to keeping him in the air under the hundreds of impacts he had just felt. He crashed into the deck of the trailing ship, grunting in pain from the impact to his unprotected back, but otherwise unharmed. The same could not be said for the ship's main mast, which his descent had shattered.

Before Doberman could push himself out of the wreckage of the deck, Luffy turned, all four of his limbs flashing out Rankyakus at the foremost galleon. He didn't aim for the ship however, but the ship's masts. All three toppled, and Luffy had a moment to smile before he had to duck aside, his danger sense roaring in his ears.

Doberman had launched three air pressure attacks from his sword, so fast that the attack almost looked as fast as Luffy's Roasting Chestnut technique, but not quite. Despite not seeing them coming, Luffy was able to dodge one, blocked the second, and then had to use Tekkai to take the other two, which still almost knocked him out of the air.

Then Doberman was on him, a Busoshoku enclosed fist smashing into Luffy's jaw and sending him flying down to impact the ship he'd just attacked. Doberman followed him down, attacking and being struck in turn all the while, but it was Doberman who hit the deck first, Ranma's ability to use his opponent's attacks to change his body's momentum still confounding the vice admiral.

When they landed however, Doberman got a blow into Luffy stomach, sending the youth flying into the wall of the captain's quarters. Other marines, including Tashigi charged forward with guns and swords ready, but Doberman ignored them for the most part only shouting out, "Gun crews to remain at stations, fire on their ships! No pirate will escape alive, whatever the cost. For Absolute Justice!"

"For Absolute Justice!" the marines shouted back from below deck, obeying his orders.

At the same time Smoker arrived and without a word his smoke billowed out towards Luffy. He had seen Luffy taking the fight to his ship and Hina's, and had turned back to help Doberman. Despite having no wish to help the Vice-Admiral Smoker couldn't let Luffy attack his crew without him intervening after all.

"Oh, hey Smokey, I'd say good to see ya but I'd be lying." Luffy said, leaping into the air and kicking out at Doberman as he flowed around a slice from Tashigi. One hand caught her arm right behind the elbow and twisted, flipping her end over end into the smoke flowing from Smoker's form. However the smoke parted quickly around her, and began to try and coalesce around Luffy.

Luffy lashed out at the smoke with one hand sending out a small Rankyaku, but he couldn't concentrate on it enough with Doberman pressing him. Realizing this, He leaped into the air, over Doberman, his hands and arms flashing out with hard Rankyaku, hitting and throwing Smoker backwards. This allowed him to hammer Doberman in turn, but he took another hard blow to his chest before he could activate his Tekkai. And Doberman was so strong that Luffy's normal durability was barely able to stop his Haki infused punch from doing a lot of damage. His return kick sent Doberman stumbling backwards.

At that moment several marines raced forward, trying to pin Luffy down, but he jumped around so easily they couldn't do it. Even Doberman couldn't get a bead on him for his special long range attack. Instead he snarled grabbing his sword up from where it had been stuck in a mast before racing forward, slicing forward, and cutting through a marine to hit Luffy, who grimaced at the blow, and at the act itself. _That was fucking deliberate!_

At the same time Smoker recovered and with a shout of, "Mugiwara, this is the end for you!" His bottom half disappeared into his smoke form, pushing his upper body forward while his arms began to disappear too. Smoker had not noticed Doberman's act, or he might have attacked him instead, but he hadn't and the other marines either hadn't realized it was on purpose, or didn't care, Luffy couldn't tell which.

 _Fuck, I can't fight them both, and they are pressing me so hard I can't even bring out my jutte! Time to break out my next trick._ With that, Luffy began to dodge in a spiral, concentrating on defense for now.

He also began to taunt his opponents even as he forced his own battle aura to become slightly chill. Not the Soul of Ice, but simply cold and controlled. "So, Smokey, I see ya haven't learned any new tricks since the last time we fought. Come on man I keep telling you to up your game, and what do ya do? Keep on using the same technique thinking it'll have to work this time. Where I'm from that's what we call an example of stupidity."

As Smoker snarled at that and pressed his attacks so much that the smoke began to billow out enough to encapsulate the entire ship Luffy turned his taunts on Doberman. "And you Doberman, was your mama a prophet naming you after a dog, or were you born that ugly? I bet parents have to hide small children when you're around, less you scar them for life!"

Doberman didn't react right off the bat, simply sneering and attacking Luffy all the harder, knowing that Luffy was trying to rattle them. "You will die here Straw Hat Luffy. Then I will take your crew and execute them one and all. No pirate like you can be allowed to live in this era, no new power can be allowed to grow to challenge the peace we maintain. For Absolute Justice you must die!"

"Wow, do you even hear the shit you're spewin'? Peace, where the hell was your peace in Alabasta when one of your precious Shichibukai went rogue? Hell you didn't even know about it until me and my crew got involved! So you're not only a loyal dog, but a blind one, though there at least you're in good company."

That line from the pigtailed pirate seemed to touch a nerve in a lot of the marines around him and he smiled grimly as he felt their anger and hate heating the air almost. Among them was Tashigi who looked particularly incensed, and guilty to Luffy's eyes. Even better though, not even Doberman had noticed he was moving in a spiral.

With that in mind e continued his mocking assault. "Or is that what this is all about? You're jealous I was able to fight and beat someone neither of you would have been able to? I don't blame you for that I suppose. As For you Doberman, where in the hell did you ever hear the idea of justice being an absolute? Or that you people serve it? What part of the Tenryubito having slaves serves justice? No Doberman, you serve those in power, nothing more. In fact, ya might say at least lately my crew and I are the ones who've been serving justice, not you marines."

That finally got through Doberman's control, and he snarled, the heat of his hate and rage now adding to the rest of the crowd. A second later Tashigi found herself in the air tossed over the side between one second and the next, Luffy having grabbed her stabbing blade and twisted so fast she could barely follow what had happened. Moments later five more very young looking marines joined her, as Luffy changed his defensive tactics for a brief second. _That's for helping Nami out Tash, as for the rest of you, none of you have to be caught in this._

This let Smoker's next attacks through Luffy's defenses, but an instant later Luffy stepped into the center of the spiral. "Hiryu Shoten Ha," he whispered, his hand thrusting upwards towards Doberman who had just leaped into the air over a marine to bring his sword down.

Before the two blows could meet the spiral of cold and warm pressure did its work and a tornado spiraled into existence. The marines had barely a second to gape before they were all caught up in the tornado and hurled into the air. With them went the wreckage scattered around the deck of the ship, their weapons and anything not nailed down and a lot that was, including the collapsed masts. Then the wind began to tear into the structure of the ship.

Safe standing as the center of the storm Ranma scowled, shaking his head. He didn't want to kill the normal marines his technique had just scooped up, not really, but with the wind speed and the flotsam and jetsam already picked up he knew many of them would be dead by the time they were thrown out of the tornado. Doberman too would probably be hammered into submission at the very least. Smoker though might have it worse in a way, since he would no doubt have a devil of a time reforming himself with the amount of wind tossing his smoke around right now.

With those two dealt with, Luffy moved off, hopping just over the water for a moment before he was out of range of the tornado, which continued to twist behind him, slowly tearing both galleons into wreckage.

 **OOOOOOO**

With the two newest galleons being so thoroughly taken care of, Nami was able to direct the two pirate ships further westward, skirting their arcs of fire. With their masts gone and dragging both ships couldn't turn to try and follow them, but they had cut the angle so well the two pirate ships still had to spend several long minutes under their fire at range.

At the same time however, Hina had arrived on the scene. While Smoker had turned aside to help out against Luffy Hina hadn't, attacking Zoro, Chopper and Bon Clay with speed and ruthlessness. She charged forward, her hands outstretched and Bon barely dodged having his body caught full on by her cage. Instead he tried to leap over it, only to have his legs caught in the steel handcuffs.

As Bon dropped down, Hina moved on, attacking Chopper next. "Ara, and one mystery seems to have been solved. A pity really, your other form was rather cute, and I dislike the idea of fighting such a cute creature. Hina saddened."

Just then she dodged to one side as a sword went through where she had been standing. Another blow nearly took her in the side, but was pulled back as she put her arm up, activating her power. Turning she glared at the pirate hunter, who smirked back at her, his teeth clenched around the hilt of a sword even a non-sword user like Hina could tell was a quality blade. "Then, how about you throw down with me instead huh Marine Captain?"

"Roronoa Zoro? Gladly." Hina replied, racing forward. Zoro however, kept his distance, wary of her power, jabbing and slicing always moving, never really engaging strength to strength. In reply Hina used her Tekkai and her style to match his movements, all the while trying to use her power to halt his movement. His blows weren't quite able to tag her with enough power to break through Hina's Tekkai, but she was still getting cut here and there.

Out on the pirate ships, Sanji noticed this and snarled, hopping into the air and kicking a cannonball right back to the ship, not aiming at the ship but his own crewman. "Hey you shitty swordsman, that's no way to treat a lady!"

Twisting quickly, Zoro was able to deflect the cannonball away, roaring back in reply. "Are you an idiot as well as an ero-cook, curly-brow!? She's an enemy before she's a woman!"

"While I agree with the sentiment, you looked away from your opponent, so who's the real moron here?" Hina said then racing forward. Before Zoro could get, away Hina's transformed arms had passed through him at the shoulder and waist, locking his arms against his body.

Zoro collapsed, and that just left Chopper, who had continued to decimate the crew of the galleon, his strength and speed more than able to deal with them. Hina turned in Chopper's direction, ignoring the cursing Zoro behind but paused, staring out toward her flagship and Smoker's ship. "What the…!"

At her shout Chopper and the marines turned to look in the same direction only for their jaws to drop in shock at what looked like a tornado which had just descended onto one of the marine ships. Others too were staring while Zoro, having twisted around to see what everyone was gaping at, nodded his head knowingly. "AH, so that's what he meant earlier. Yeah, that's a show stopper for sure."

Even the two pirate crews were staring. Then Nami shook her head, calculating speedily how the tornado was affecting the local weather before turning to the Okama crew around her. "What the hell are you all just standing and gaping for!? This is the Grand Line after all. For now, let's use this! That seems to have taken the fight out of those last two galleons, so let's get out of here! Both ships hard to starboard, then trim the sails too…"

As Nami continued to bellow orders, so loud the man with the Den-Den Mushi simply held it out rather than relay them, Robin moved to the side of the _Resolve_ , staring. _So, he can somehow create tornados too? I wonder why he didn't use that technique against Crocodile? Though then again he might have been able to counter it. Still, a fascinating ability, one I have never heard the like of before. Yet another mystery to add to the pile of such my captain seems to be._

Before Hina could really come to terms with what she was seeing, Luffy had crossed the intervening distance between the galleon she was currently on with the three pirates and the one he had been fighting on. Landing he smirked at Hina. "Yo, Pinkie. Sorry I can't stay and chat, but our rides about to leave without us. So why don't you just let my first mate and friend there both go and you can start trying to help your friends over there?"

"Hina is not Pinkie! Hina enraged!" Hina scowled, raising her hands into a boxing stance and charging forward. Luffy took a step back then began dodging, noting she had actually added a bit more to her style, using more kicks then before. And she was much better at activating and deactivating her power, watching his hands and feet closely to know when he was bringing out his Haki.

"Heh, yep, I'd definitely say you're a better rival than Smokey, at least you're not a one trick pony like he is. Still, like I said I," Before he could speak further Luffy's danger sense tingled and he dove to the side, rolling as something incredibly fast slammed into and through the deck he had been standing on a second ago.

Luffy had to dodge again, this time grabbing at the unconscious marine he had landed on, dragging him out of the way and glaring up at Doberman, who stood in midair over the ship. the man's clothing was somewhat shredded, and he was bruised from head to toe, but for all of that he was still in the fight. One hand held a penny, which he had just somehow flicked at Amiguriken speeds, or perhaps even faster.

"Oy Doggie, ya nearly killed yer own guy there!" Luffy said, growling the words. To his mind there was nothing worse than a commander who killed his own men. That was why he still felt that he personally had failed as a captain when he had unknowingly put Nami in the way of Ms. Doublefinger.

"Sacrifices must be made in the pursuit of Absolute Justice! Even if we lost every marine here, I would count the day a victory so long as we can stop you. You are too dangerous to live Monkey D. Luffy!" Doberman retorted before shouting out "Finger fusillade!"

From both his hands several pennies shot out at near supersonic speeds, crashing down like so many cannonballs aimed at Luffy. But Luffy jumped into the air to the side of the ship, which made the assault crash into the sea and the prow of the ship rather than the majority of the crew. The attacks which landed still smashed through the ship from top to bottom, and water began to gush in.

Glaring up at Doberman, Hina debated what to do now as Luffy reached Doberman, the two once more exchanging blows. She looked around as a hesitant voice asked. "Um, Captain, can you release me?"

She looked to see a marine she had accidentally captured in one of her manacles accidently. Nodding she touched the bars then ordered him and the others to gather up their fellows and make for the life boats. "And make certain we keep a hold of Roronoa." The little creature, Chopper, was nowhere in sight, but he could be found after the majority of the crew had evacuated the now sinking ship.

She then turned to glare up at the ongoing battle. She would follow the others after the majority of her sailors had evacuated. She didn't notice the marine she had freed hustling Zoro off to a lifeboat, or how he grabbed Zoro's swords from the deck as Chopper appeared from under the canvas of the lifeboat.

Zoro grunted as Chopper scrambled up to his head. 'Fast thinking there Clay."

"Ara on first name terms are we now Zoro-kun~? Thank you, but I think it's time we left yeah?" Bon Clay asked, not changing back. He threw his arms around Zoro's shoulders and Zoro grunted again.

Despite his two passengers however, Zoro was able to kick off into the air, though he dropped nearly into the ocean a second later. Chopper nearly squealed in fear, but kept from saying anything, knowing they were trying to sneak away. And a second later Zoro righted himself, and began to bounce just above the surface of the ocean towards the two pirate ships.

"Ara, why are you making for my ship instead of your own Zoro-kun~?" Bon asked.

"I want to give the aho-cook a piece of my mind. No, I tell I lie, I just want to cut him into pieces." Zoro growled out.

To that the other two pirates could only nod and while the marines were busy trying to evacuate their ship they made their way to the Okama pirate's ship. there several hundred hands removed Bon Clay and Chopper from Zoro's back, depositing them both on the deck. Looking to the east Zoro could see Robin standing at the stern of the _Resolve._

Hopping over the side of the ship Zoro looked around, eager to attack Sanji despite the fact his hands were still cuffed to his body, but they found Sanji already unconscious with Makino standing over him, huffing and shaking a shattered rifle out to one side. "We are seriously going to need to train him to not act like that towards enemies of the female persuasion." She looked over at Zoro, grimacing at the sight of him still in the large handcuffs. "Can you get out of that?"

Shaking his head, Zoro turned to look back up at the fight still going on in the air above them. "No, but that doesn't matter. Tell Nami to keep going, Luffy will catch up with us. We need to get out of here before more marines arrive."

Above them in midair, Doberman was once again having fits with Luffy's ability to redirect the momentum of his attacks in order to stay in the air, freeing his legs up for kicks. His sword was long gone, shattered in the tornado. And his Haki was slowly going too, only his Tekkai and his ability to keep up with Luffy's speed was letting him fight Luffy evenly. But he still wasn't giving up.

For his part Luffy too was hurting. Doberman's ability with Haki was better than his, as was his mastery of Tekkai, and Luffy's Haki had faded as the fight went on just like Doberman's. At this point he couldn't call it up at all. Luffy knew he had broken several bones during this battle, though his ki healing had healed him up quick enough for it to not have slowed him down much.

But Luffy's speed and skill was better than the older man's. He was also still planning, while Doberman was simply trying to rely on his fighting instincts, where again Luffy had an advantage.

This was why Luffy had spent the last several minutes trying to only attack Doberman's upper body and head. When Luffy judged that his opponent had begun to only anticipate attacks coming at his upper body he suddenly blocked a blow upwards, using the momentum of that to go down in the air, where he used Geppo once more. And like Luffy had hoped this move caught Doberman by surprise.

This was why he wasn't able to activate Tekkai before Luffy shouted "Moko Takabasha double!" firing the ki blasts point blank form his hands into Doberman's kneecaps from the side. The ki blasts fired off from point-blank range, and there was a an oddly sound mixing the crack of a bone and a sound like 'splut' as Doberman's knees suddenly turned into so much mush.

"AGFHHH!" Dobermans screamed in agony. His Geppo cut out instantly and he began to fall towards the ocean below. Yet even as he did, he tried to strike out at Luffy one last time, punching out as he fell.

Luffy however grabbed his arm around his wrist and hopped further up into the air. Now he stood at an angle where Doberman couldn't attack him, and he gritted his teeth, glaring up at the pirate. "Do you expect me to beg pirate?"

"No." Luffy said, biting back all the sarcastic comments he could shout at the man, before simply shaking his head then ducking backwards as another penny zoomed up through the space where his chin had been a moment before. Scowling he raised his fist. "I just mean to make certain that even if you're pulled out of the drink, you won't be coming after my crew again."

Without another word Luffy began to hammer blows into Doberman's elbow continuously. Doberman tried again and again to fire one of his special Finger Bombs up at Luffy, but each time Luffy dodged and then Doberman's Haki failed at last. He tried to use Tekkai, but even that eventually failed, and his elbow joined his knees in ruin.

Luffy pulled the man up, until he was once more face to face with Luffy, uncaring of the hundreds of marines who were watching the action from their lifeboats or ruined ships as he stared into Doberman's pain and rage-filled eyes. His voice for once was utterly devoid of humor, his blue eyes dark. "You killed one of your own people and would've killed more to get at me on top of threatening my nakama. Any other pirate would simply kill you. But I'm going to give your men, the same men you cut down to get to me, a chance to save your life. I wonder if they'll think you're worth it. Remember this moment Doberman, and know that if we ever meet again, I won't be nearly as kind."

To his surprise, Doberman pulled out a knife somehow with his one still working hand and tried to stab Luffy. But Luffy caught it between his fingers and wrenched it out of the man's hand before opening his other hand. He hopped there in midair watching Doberman fall towards the ocean below.

Moments later Luffy landed on Bon Clay's ship, and smirked at Zoro. "Yo Zoro, didn't think ya were into bondage."

"Shut up and get me out of this thing! And then you, me, and curly-brows are going to have to have a talk about how exactly I got into this mess."

"Hai, Hai," Luffy said, reaching forward to wrench apart Zoro's manacles. Even as he freed his first mate however, Luffy's thoughts were on the man he had just left behind, dead or alive he really didn't care. If Doberman came after him again, he had seen enough of the man's style to take him apart, if not easily than certainly far easier than the fight he had just finished. _Still, there are going to be a lot of consequences from this. I'm going to have to step up my personal training, and that of my crew too._

Chopper, Makino and even the unconscious Sanji shivered, as did Nami and Robin on the Resolve. "What was that?" Nami asked worriedly, looking around in fear.

"I don't know, but for some reason I don't think it was anything good," Robin said. "It was almost like someone was walking over our graves, while we were being buried alive within them."

"Gah such a horrifying imagination Robin!" Nami shuddered, before shaking off the feeling quickly and shouting orders to the Okama pirates aboard the _Resolve_ and the communications man. The Okama ship broke off seeming to head off in one direction while the Resolve followed another, but once out of sight of the marines and with the help of the Geppo users, they would come together again before once more going their separate ways. Both ships were badly battered, but still seaworthy. The Straw Hat/Okama pirate alliance had won, they had escaped Alabasta.

 **OOOOOOO**

"Utter defeat," Hina muttered as her troopers rowed their lifeboat towards where they had seen Doberman go down. While she personally would have liked to, there would no doubt be repercussions if she left him to drown as he deserved. Akainu would be furious at the loss of one of his protégés and would find out about it in time. Indeed, she wondered what repercussions there would be for Luffy and his crew from this.

 _They didn't just escape us, they beat us utterly! Two schooners heavily damaged, two galleons sunk and two more galleons complete write offs even if they are both still floating for some reason._ The two ships caught in Luffy's tornado had their decks and masts simply ripped off, losing all of their upper structure. But the rest of their hulls were relatively undamaged. Their crews were also relatively intact, ironically thanks to Doberman's orders which kept the gun crews below decks at their stations. Neither ship was going anywhere though except under tow.

 _The only ship still capable of combat is the galleon of an officer who avoided combat! Hina furious, Hina_ _ **beyond**_ _furious. Hina will have that man's head for this!_ Though if another galleon's cannons would have changed the outcome she didn't know, the act of cowardice in the face of the enemy was a hanging offense. One Hina could order as the man's commanding office given the number of witnesses.

Smoker grunted beside her. He had actually reformed somewhat quickly having realized what the winds would do to him if he stayed in smoke form. Despite that his clothing was shredded, his upper body a visible mass of black and blue with truly magnificent shiner to boot and numerous other wounds despite his ability to use Tekkai. He would still have drowned however after escaping the tornado if not for Tashigi and several others taking turns to keep him above water until a lifeboat arrived to pull them out.

"Doberman couldn't defeat Mugiwara!" He growled, butting the tip off a new cigarette before spitting it out, realizing that it was soggy from his trip into the ocean. "But then again, can't say I blame him. After all, who the hell would have figured Mugiwara could just create a hurricane like that?"

"True, but look on the bright side, at least this way the higher-ups won't think we didn't do all in our power to stop them." Tashigi said. Of all of them she was the only one not visibly sporting an injury, but in her case her pride had once more been pricked badly by what had occurred. Having her life spared by Luffy's deliberate actions before he launched his attack irked her something fierce, as it did the pride of the other marines Luffy had thrown overboard instead of letting them get caught in his tornado. But they were the only ones who had been on the deck of the ship that was still alive after the battle.

"I wonder how he did it? Hina curious," Hina said in an almost detached manner before rounding on both the other marines. "I'm not going to let this go Smoker-kun! Two pirate ships escaped here, two pirate crews escaped **me** Black Cage Hina, and made a mockery of my tactics and men. I'm not going to let that stain on my reputation stand, and I'm not going to stand by and let the Marines be brushed aside like this! I'm going after them. Hina determined! What about you?"

That this might save them both from any negative impact from Doberman's defeat and possible death, after all they hadn't found him just yet, was not said.

Smoker started to nod slowly, but then sighed, changing the nod into a shake. "No. It's pretty obvious I need to either come up with a new seastone weapon, or train myself to use haki before I challenge Mugiwara again. Chase after him now if you want to Hina, but I am going to pull off for now. Until I have learned Haki and mastered it to a level where I can challenge him there's no point."

Hina's lips twitched into a smirk. "Ara, does that mean you agree with him that I'm Luffy's rival now? Hina amused." Growling Smoker turned away, causing Hina to laugh loudly for a moment before she moved off to order her troops and commander the galleon who had refused battle as her new flagship. _We'll meet again Straw Hat Luffy, be sure of it!_

 **End Chapter**

Doberman, for those who don't remember, is the Marine Vice-admiral who shot one of his own men during the Buster Call at Enies Lobby. Given that and the fact he's a protégé of Akainu, I don't think his words or actions are out of character. I'll admit part of me wanted to kill him off, but that would surely have set Akainu himself on Luffy's trail, and he's not ready for that matchup yet. I also thought Raffy would see leaving it to his people, the same people he was willing to sacrifice, to save him as poetic irony.

Vivi's actions: I've hinted that she had a bit of a crush on Raffy several times, and I thought that a young girl would possibly act like this, even a princess. But I also think Raffy's response is spot on for his personality.

Anyway hope you all enjoyed this, including the fight against the marines. Since this was my first large scale sea battle I'd like to know everyone's thought about it. Just remember how sea battles go in the original One Piece before filleting me please LOL.


	14. Chapter 14

Oda is not my last name and my first ain't Rumiko.

This story placed second in my small story poll bringing in a total of 750 combined from here on fanfic and over on Pat R on. This was good, because I'm really enjoying working with the One Piece universe, and the small cast of characters within it.

In third place was _Anything Goes Game Changer_ at 684 despite my best efforts LOL, and in fourth was _Semblance of Hope_ at 635. _Fate touched in Middle Earth_ was in last place at 455.

A bit of a warning, this chapter deals with one of the filler arcs of the anime: the Ruluka Island arc. If you have only read the One Piece manga it will probably be unfamiliar. But as a few reviewers pointed out it represented a way to increase the combat/medical/tech base of the crew, and I decided I couldn't ignore it.

It has also not been betaed. I tried to to so myself, but if I was ever good at that I wouldn't need beta readers in the first place. LOL. I have however sent it to Michael, and he will hopefully get it back in a week or so.

* * *

 **Chapter 14: Training, Talks and Looting**

The Shichibukai Dracule Mihawk stepped off his small personal ship onto an island in the New World. It was a relatively small island, but a somewhat decent one since it didn't see any of the truly insane weather patterns that were the norm in the New World. But despite that it was too small to retain any normal human settlement and yet ihawk's ship wasn't the first to drop anchor here. There was another far larger galleon already at anchor nearby though its owners were nowhere in sight.

 _Typical of the man, doesn't even leave someone behind on lookout. What is it with the Yonkou that makes them all become so arrogant?_ Mihawk of course knew what it was: that it wasn't arrogance considering that every Yonkou could back it up. He just like to poke fun at this one, even in his head.

As Mihawk strode through the forest, he was spotted by several lookouts on guard around a makeshift camp set a ways from the shoreline. "It's Mihawk! Hawk Eyes is here. Are you here to make trouble Hawk Eyes!?" shouted more than one voice as men moved out of his way rapidly.

"Out of my way fools," Mihawk replied, waving them aside as if they were of no consequence, which to him they were. "I have no business with you, I only wish to speak to your captain."

Eventually he was led into the presence of Ben Beckham. The other man nodded to Dracule then without a word led ushered him into his captain's presence, as was right and proper. Pirate captains didn't deal with subordinates when meeting with one another and despite having no crew Mihawk was considered a captain.

Red-haired Shanks looked up his eyes bloodshot, his hair unkempt, wincing as the sunlight hit him. "Yo Hawk Eyes, are you here to pick a fight? I have to tell you I'm not in the mood this morning. I had some bad rum last night."

"It looks as if you just drank too much," Mihawk said bluntly sitting across from the man at the burned out fire pit that Shanks had been sleeping next to. "Besides, I have no wish to start a fight with one who has given up the way of the sword in favor of the fist. Such would sully my name as a swordsman."

That caused some angry growls from the crew, but Shanks simply laughed then winced, holding his head in his hands. Nearby Ben smirked, leaning against a nearby tent pole as Lucky Roo and Yasopp moved through the camp towards them.

"So what are you..." Shanks stopped speaking as Mihawk through a sheaf of papers down in front of them.

"You mentioned once giving your hat to someone in East Blue, imagine my surprise when I ran into the fellow." Dracule drawled.

Shanks stared at the bounty poster, holding it up and laughing slightly then louder and louder. "So you arrived Luffy!"

"Look at the second page," Mihawk ordered. "That one was Straw Hat's old one, the one below is his new bounty."

Shanks lot and then gaped. "130,000,000 Beli!? What the hell what did Luffy do?!"

"Fought and killed Crocodile," Mihawk said bluntly. "No one knows the reasons for why he challenged my fellow Shichibukai, but I was informed of the outcome when the World Government requested my presence to discuss a possible replacement."

Shanks paused, setting down the two bounty posters and looking at Dracule thoughtfully. "Okay, so why are you so interested in them? It can't just be because I handed over my hat to Luffy."

"I am not interested in their captain it all, save perhaps as an observer," Dracule said bluntly. "It is his first mate that interests me, Roronoa Zoro." The normally inexpressive man allowed a thin smile to appear on his face. "It has been a very long time since I saw eyes like that, eyes which could challenge the world."

"So he's already gathered a crew!" Shanks said laughing. "We'd heard he get a bounty, but we haven't received any of the new posters recently. He Ben! Get us some sake! Sake for me and my friend here!"

"It looks as if you've already drank enough for both of us. For the next week at the very least," Mihawk said, demurring. He was also more of a wine drinker than sake or beer.

This didn't stop Shanks, who took a massive saucer of sake from Lucky Roo and began to chug it down. He stopped for a moment, grinning over the lip of the sake at Mihawk. "Besides this Zoro guy you're interested in, are there any others that look like they'll survive the Grand Line?"

Shanks wasn't being callous so much as realistic. The number of crews that could survive Paradise without losing members were very small. Shanks himself hadn't even managed that, though he had served on a crew which had in his younger years.

Mihawk frowned thoughtfully. "I only fought the two of them, so I do not now. Several others have found bounties on them so I suppose they are of some decent ability. Though it's strange, I would have thought the green haired woman with them would have gotten a bounty as well, she was certainly…"

At hearing about a green haired woman on Luffy's crew Shanks spit out his alcohol straight into Dracule's face, halting Dracule's speech. Gasping and pounding his chest Shanks let his saucer smash into the ground. "W, what?! What by the Seven Seas and Davy Jones Locker is Makino doing with them!? She's no pirate!"

Twisting around Shanks stared at Ben. "Ben have any of our spies or allied crews heard about this?! What the blistering **fuck** is Makino or all people doing on the Grand Line!?"

Instead of answering, Ben looked at the slowly standing Dracule Mihawk, and quickly stepped back a few paces. "Um, boss, I think you should get out your sword. Or run away, one of the two."

"What, why?" Then Shanks turned, and saw Dracule now on his feet, one hand reaching behind his shoulder for the Black Blade. Shanks blinked. "Why are you all wet Hawk-Eye?"

The other pirates scattered, as the black blade left its sheathe and Shanks suddenly had no time to worry about Makino or her reasons to have left home with Luffy. At least for a few hours anyway.

 **OOOOOOO**

"I see them!" Luffy shouted at the top of his lungs. At the moment, he was hopping in midair a few hundred feet above Bon's ship, staring around the ocean for the _Resolve_. The added height allowed him to find his ship despite it being nighttime and because the ladies on the _Resolve_ had set up several lamps scattered around its deck.

With Luffy guiding them, the Okama pirate ship made its way toward the _Resolve_ while Luffy went ahead of them, alighting on the deck. "Hey ladies, oh and you okama guys too. We're back."

"'We're back' he says," Nami muttered, moving over and smacking Luffy upside the head.

"What was that for?" Luffy asked, frowning at the girl. He really didn't want Nami to get into the habit of smacking him for every little thing after all. _Akane was more than enough there thank you._

"You can create a tornado," Nami drawled. "A **tornado**! How?! How the hell did you learn how to do that, I don't know if I should be angry at your casually breaking the laws of nature, or envious!"

Luffy shrugged. "It's not exactly weather science, and besides which, this is the Grand Line. Is there such a thing as the laws of nature here?"

"God dammit let me at least keep some of my delusions!" Nami bellowed into his face, before she suddenly laughed and pulled him into a hug. "Seriously though, that was really too close for comfort! When that Marine that you fought showed up along with Smoker I thought we were all going to get captured!"

"Bipolar much, girl?" Luffy replied, though he hugged Nami back despite that.

Robin nodded, turning aside from where she had just dropped the anchor to smile at the captain. "I too thought the battle was going to go against us there. Though how exactly did you create a tornado in the first place?"

"Hot and cold air," Luffy said simply, moving back from Nami to wink at both girls at once.

Before Nami could get angry, he held up a hand. "Fighters, even low level fighters like most pirate and marine grunts have a sort of battle aura. The angrier a person gets, the hotter their battle aura is. And when hot and cold meet, they create a change in air pressure, right?."

"That makes sense," Nami mused, scowling as she unclenched her fist from where she was about to hit Luffy again. "Hot and cold can react like that, so long as you create a spiral pattern in the first place… And keep your own what'd you call it, battle aura, if you can keep your own battle aura cold enough."

"Yep," Luffy said in reply. "And I am sort of an old hand at that."

"And how exactly did you discover this technique?" Robin asked her eyes narrowed. She wondered if Luffy would evade the question or decline to answer.

Luffy simply smiled, holding up a finger to his lips. "Now, that is a secret…"

Shaking her head Robin chuckled, but made a note that her captain had added yet another strange ability to his bag of tricks. Nami simply growled, taking his non-answer much more seriously than Robin did since the older woman had expected it. But even Nami shook it off speaking her thoughts aloud for a moment in a dreamy sort of tone. "If only we had some way of creating an effect like that manually, like through some kind of weapon."

"That's kind of fanciful isn't it?" Luffy asked skeptically.

"So is creating a tornado in the first place, or I don't know, changing genders when splashed with water," Nami said deadpan then shook it off. "Where aways is Bon's ship?"

Under Nami's directions and now within range of their Den-Den Mushis the two ships met up quickly after that. Nami and Robin made a point of looking with disfavor on Sanji, having seen him interrupt Zoro's battle with Hina. The Chef didn't seem to notice, whirling towards them and bowing grandly. "Ladies, please rejoice, your knight has returned!"

The two of them exchanged a glance but before they could say anything Luffy whispered, "We'll deal with Sanji's punishment after we split off, don't worry about it for now." Out loud he shouted, "Sanji! I think our breakout calls for a small celebration. Whip us up some food!"

Sanji smiled, saluting mockingly. "Yes captain, I'll get right on that. Ladies, do you have any requests?"

Bon slapped his face, suddenly changing into Nami for a moment and twirling. "I would like some crêpe Suzette please, and shrimp, I demand shrimp!"

This caused Sanji to twitch and he looked over at Nami pleadingly, but she laughed waving him off. "You heard the… momentary… lady."

Luffy shivered, but said nothing. In his mind Bon had proven himself it in the battle. The aquatranssexual still found Bon weird, somewhat disturbed by the idea of anyone **choosing** to change genders rather than have it forced upon them. But the man was a decent fighter and damn smart, which had served both of their crews well against the marines.

With Chopper moving around the two crews seeing to injuries and Makino and a few of Bon's crew throwing in with Sanji in the kitchen the party got underway quickly, with Luffy filling everyone in on the marine he had fought.

Robin alone among them understood the significance of taking on a Vice-Admiral and winning in particular in the manner that Luffy had done so and who this particular vice Admiral was. More importantly, Robin knew who his patron was. She shook her head however, vowing to speak to Luffy about that after the party. Right now, they had a reason to celebrate.

The party quickly got underway after that, starting with a few of the Okama pirates beginning to play some music on a few violins of all things. Luffy let out a laugh, then hopped up and began to dance in place with Chopper, whirling and twirling around one another. Bon took it upon himself to entertain the two crews, first dancing with Luffy and Chopper, then changing his face to match people he had whose form he had taken in the past, including Cobra and performing impressions, both of them being in character and then acting wildly out of character.

With that Going on Luffy stopped dancing. Instead he moved around, talking laughing before settling down into a arm wrestling contest with Sanji and Zoro, drinking and eating all the while to regain his reserves. He then engaged Robin in a discussion about books which drew Chopper from the dance floor as well as Nami and Makino for a time, before the three girls shifted the topic to other things. Luffy and Chopper swiftly moved over to join a group of the crew around Sanji, who was demonstrating a method of barbecuing.

The party lasted throughout the night but ended as the sun came up. Both crews knew they needed to get a move on, they couldn't remain anchored here for very much longer despite take having taking two days to put some distance between themselves and Alabasta lest the marines find them again. Though their rigging and masts were undamaged the two ships had taken a bit of a pounding and were not up for another fight.

While his crew was preparing to leave Bon held up a small jug of alcohol and sat down cross-legged by the mast of the _Resolve_. "As captain of the Okama Pirates, I offer my pledge of friendship and alliance to the Straw Hat Pirate Crew!" he shouted at the top of his lungs, causing both his own crew and the Straw Hats to turn to him.

Luffy had heard of this before from Shanks, though he had never thought to be a part of this ceremony so quickly without Ace on the other side of things. Sitting across from Bon equally cross-legged, Luffy picked up the saucer set there, holding it out to the other pirate captain. "As captain of the Straw Hat pirate crew, I accept this offer of alliance. If you call, we will answer."

"If you call, we will answer!" Bon repeated, pouring sake into both of their saucers.

"With this we are brother crews!" Luffy declared, once more with Bon echoing his words. An instant later the two captains smashed the saucers down onto the deck shattering them into hundreds of pieces. They then stood up, grabbing each other's forearms and pumping once.

"Farewell until next time my friends," Bon said, dancing away from Luffy over towards the balustrade, then leaping like a swan into the air in a perfect gran-jette onto his own ship. Without further ado the two ships pushed away from one another, both crews waving farewell until the wind caught the Okama ship and started to pull it away.

"Bon's a weird guy but one of the better ones I think," Luffy said, standing next to Nami on one side and Zoro on the other, Chopper on his head, his hat on Choppers head in turn.

"I liked him. He was weird, but funny," Chopper said. "I wonder if I'll ever be able to dance like that."

"Maybe someday if you keep practicing," Luffy said with a laugh. "Just don't dress up like him that's all I ask."

"That is a horrible, horrible thought and I curse you for putting it in my mind," Zoro said dryly.

Behind the swordsman Sanji began to gag and blush at the same time. The cook had just imagined Luffy in both his forms in the tutu that Bon wore for everyday garb. "OOghghh, Heaven and hell," he moaned, rolling on the deck.

Luffy looked back at him and his eyes narrowed seriously. "Nami, is there any weather issues coming our way for a while?"

"Nope," Nami said after looking up into the air for a moment. "We can get on our own way quickly."

"Let's go. Set the course navigator-chan, Sanji I will be on the sails. After we have them set up though I'm calling a crew meeting by the wheel."

That took them about twenty minutes until they were course was set and the sails to match well enough for Nami's exacting standards and even as the others gathered around the wheel, she kept an eye on both course and weather. Here on the Grand Line the direction and the weather could change in an instant, and with the marines still out there somewhere no one wanted to lose their course.

Once everyone was gathered, Luffy looked at Nami and Robin, who had remained behind on the _Resolve_ throughout the battle, unlike Sanji who had to move between ships. "How's the ship?"

"We're ship-shape," Nami said looking over at Robin. "Chopper and you three did a great job keeping those spear things that they were chucking at us away, though we still took a few hits from the normal cannons. None were below the waterline and the two of us were able to patch them over the past few days."

Lifting the spots bestowed a proud smile on all three of them then looked at Robin. "What can you tell us about the next islands we might see?"

"There are several small islands I know of around Alabasta. Several of them do not appear on either of the actual paths through the Grand Line that passed through Alabasta, they are dead ends. I can't say I know much about the two that are on those routes however. I sort of came across the Grand Line several times during my travels. I never followed a route from the very beginning. I can tell you however there is a pirate-only island called Jaya about three weeks travel from Alabasta. I was there briefly. The town is run like a sort of resort ostensibly open to everyone, but the town that has sprung up there panders to pirates most of all. You can resupply and refit there at an exorbitant cost yet it is a rather lawless town."

"That sounds horrible," Nami said bluntly. "I hope we don't have to go there."

"I don't know it sounded like fun to me," Luffy said with a laugh. Zoro and Sanji agreed while the girls all shook their heads and Chopper looked rather skeptical. "But you can't tell us anything about the next specific island?"

Robin shook her head. "I am afraid not." She waved her hands and dozens of eyeballs appeared all around them on the deck, the masts and even the rigging. "Simply get me to an island and I'll know quite a bit about it quickly. But I'm sorry my travels around the Grand Line were not organized enough for me to tell you anything specifically about our route at present. If I ever recognize an island I will be quick to tell you."

Luffy nodded then turned to the elephant in the room. "All right, that's enough of that for now, instead we have to deal with a… disciplinary issue. Sanji, do you have anything you want to say to the crew?"

Sanji hopped to his feet, looking around at the crew before bowing slowly. "I'm sorry I nearly got Marimo killed, but my chivalrous nature would not allow me to stand aside and watch him fight such a gorgeous~ lady even if she was a Marine!"

Whatever Luffy or the injured party had to say about that was left unsaid as the womenfolk beat them to it. Makino marched up to Sanji, stared him straight in the face then slapped him upside the head. "That's not chivalry Sanji," she said coldly, "that's stupidity."

"It's stabbing your crewmates in the back," Nami said moving over to slap him upside the head to. Robin did not join in, simply shaking her head slowly and sadly, as if she was very disappointed in a little child.

Watching Sanji's face fall, Luffy decided not to add any of his own words into that harsh assessment. After all what Nami said was true: if Luffy had not been able to finish his fight as he had and if Bon hadn't figured out a plan Zoro might well have been captured.

"Okay Sanji, this has been a sort of wake-up call. I realize we're not likely to run into a lot of enemies of the fairer sex, but I think we need to solve this problem." Luffy said, his voice actually rather kind. Sanji was a damn good crew-mate, and more than that he was a friend. For that Luffy could look beyond his foibles, so long as they didn't put the crew in danger, which was the point.

"I can't help it!" Sanji exclaimed. "I simply love the ladies that's all. I'll try not to interfere in future fights against ladies, but I can't promise that I won't."

"Your punishment will be training to get you out of that habit. I'll come up with a training regimen to make certain that you understand that women can be your enemies too," Luffy replied ignoring Sanji's words and smirking evilly, a sight that sent Sanji backpedaling quickly while Zoro laughed. "As for your actual punishment…" Luffy looked around at the rest of the crew. "Any ideas?"

Makino held up a hand quickly. "No flirting for a week?"

"How would we reinforce that?" Luffy asked skeptically. "Besides, I don't know if you could stop him flirting, it seems to be a sort of integral part of his personality." Sanji nodded rapidly at that, before Luffy went on, causing the entire crew to break out into laughter. "And I for one am not willing to go without the treats he makes for the girls." This obviously included Luffy's own female body hence the laughter.

But Nami had a solution. She held up a hand, drawing all attention to her before giving the most vicious smile she could possibly give as she looked at Sanji. "I vote every time he flirts during that week we ladies have to kick him in the fork."

Luffy flinched as Chopper and Zoro did the same. Even the swordsman thought that was too far, while Sanji simply froze like a statue, tears falling from his eyes as if his entire life had just been proven a lie. "You inhuman monster!" Luffy and Zoro bellowed as one.

"I am not!" Nami shouted back, her teeth forming into fangs for a moment as she did before calming down. "It's just the first thing that came to mind. If we're going to treat this like some kind of training then we need to connect flirting with pain."

"That's a little too far," Luffy decided quickly shaking his head, and thanking every god in existence that Akane or one of the others had never gone that far in trying to correct Ranma's own actions. "The punishment training will do for that anyway. I've already got some ideas along that line. But since we're talking about things that we need to correct," Luffy went on looking over at Zoro. "your sense of direction is going to be the one of them too."

Zoro blinked once before roaring angrily, his teeth doing the same odd shark impression Nami had made a moment earlier. "I don't have a problem with my sense of direction! Everyone else does!"

"Yes you do!" everyone else shouted back, with various degrees of exasperation.

"If I'm going to get on Sanji for his flirting getting us in trouble, which has already been proven, I need to be just as serious about trying to cure you of your sense of direction." Luffy went on, waving his hands to the others. "So every night for the next few weeks, Nami here is going to teach you the rudiments of navigating along with signs in nature that can tell you what direction you're going."

Nami balked at that. "Why me?" she asked plaintively. _That'll be like trying to get water out of a rock!_ Since Zoro had gotten lost both in Rain Diners and Vivi's palace she felt that opinion was justified.

"Because you're my navigator," Luffy said as if it was the most obvious thing in the universe.

 _Which come to think of it_ Nami thought _it kind of is, damn it._ She was also trying desperately to keep a happy flush off her features at the way Luffy had sad 'my' there. "What about you?" she shot back. "You're not exactly perfect either, heck none of us are."

"I know. I need to think of some way of making sure that I remember to act like a captain such as organizing us better in the future even if we're separated, long term supplies, that kind of thing. I also know I have a penchant to punch first and look for other solutions never, but that's why I've got you lot," Luffy said smiling winningly at Nami and the others.

Nami's blush escaped her control at that point while the rest of the crew rolled their eyes, but then Luffy yawned. "Well, I don't know about you but I didn't get much sleep last night or the two days previous. I'm going to conk out. I want two people on watch, one at the tiller and one up in the crow's nest. Other than that, this meeting is adjourned."

Because he slept throughout the day, Luffy took first watch that night staying at the wheel with a book in one hand. The title was _Blades of the Desert_ and Vivi had recommended it to him well before they actually got to Alabasta because it depicted a martial arts style that was based upon something that Luffy, with his memory of being Ranma would call a variant of Pencak Silat: a style that could fight on any surface, even walls or shifting sand without any loss of its ability. The titular blades were a kind of weird katar/rapier hybrid and weren't really interesting to him. _Though I might share it with Zoro, see what he thinks. Then again, I'm only a chapter in, so we'll…_

A voice interrupted Luffy's thoughts then. "Having regrets?"

At the voice Luffy turned slightly, looking toward the stairs leading up from the main deck to the after-castle. Robin stood there having somehow come out on deck and walked up those steps without him hearing her. _Was I that into the book?_ Quickly Luffy looked down at the Log Pose and began to work the wheel, getting them back on track.

With that done, he looked back up at Robin and quirked an eyebrow, tone somewhat sarcastic. "Everyone has regrets, you're going to have to be more specific than that."

"Very well," Robin said, a small smile flickering around her face, visible in the starlight. "Do you have a specific regret then about leaving Vivi behind and on top of that not taking the princess up on her offer."

Luffy's eyes narrowed. "Vive made the decision of staying behind, I'm not about to regret **Vivi's** decision though it does make me sad to leave a friend. And how the hell do you know about what she, she 'offered' me?"

"I have long been in the habit of seeding rooms around wherever I am sleeping with eye and ears. That is a habit that has saved my life several times. I didn't mean to watch you, but I did hear your little meeting with the Princess." Robin said somewhat apologetically.

Luffy sighed at that but slowly nodded. "I can understand that at least, though it was a private moment. The moment you realized that you should have canceled your DF power."

"I do tend not to try to budge into those, but the phrase curiosity killed the cat could just as easily be read as curiosity killed the woman," Robin replied ruefully. She then fell silent, looking at Luffy.

Even in the light of the stars and his one smell thieves' lantern Luffy could see the question on her face and he sighed. "I'm not my Oyaji," he said, repeating the words he had told Vivi that night. "My Oyaji used to be a every girl in a poor kind of guy, loving an' leaving them. That's not my scene."

Actually, that was only halfway true. According to Garp that was indeed the case, though Dragon had apparently settled down when he began his revolution. Luffy still had no idea who his mother had been, a revolutionary officer who had died in childbirth was his best guess, but that was all. On top of that was Shanks and what he had done with Makino which never ceased to anger Luffy, though not as much as the woman in question.

Robin nodded her head, taking Luffy's words at face value. "You handled Vivi's offer and confession about as well as could be expected." Looking down at the book in his hand, the title visible in the light of his lamp she smirked slightly. "That's an interesting choice of nighttime reading…"

"Vivi recommend it to me. She thought the martial arts would be interesting to me and I gotta say the first fight scene was pretty decent," Luffy replied, with all the airs of a connoisseur of such things.

"Ah, I see," I Robin said, hiding her mouth behind her hand as she chuckled. "Yes I suppose that could be one draw of it. The other is that it is rather… salacious in parts. It isn't quite a full book blown erotic novel, but it is close."

Luffy looks down at the book in his hand, then up at Robin. "…And how exactly do you know that?

"Wouldn't you like to know?" Robin replied, winking at him before quickly changing the subject.

Blushing slightly both of them looked away, then Luffy looked back down at the book. "Though I do wonder if Vivi knew about that aspect. Maybe she read a watered down version."

"Probably," Robin said with a smile. "Her crush on you was developed several weeks before we arrived in Alabasta where you did battle with the monster threatening her people for nothing more than friendship's sake. You have to admit, that makes you out more like a fairytale hero than a pirate."

Luffy shrugged his shoulders, not rising to the bait.

Chuckling, Robin moved to sit beside him on the small sofa that Luffy had installed near the wheel for long nights like this. When she spoke next Robin's voice was more seriously "You're defeat of Doberman will have painted an even larger target on our back you know."

"I don't remember saying his name. In fact, I don't think I even heard it unless one Marine said it, though I can't disagree with your point of course." Luffy replied, cocking his head at her, moving so that they could look at one another with the lamp shining its narrow light onto the wheel to one side. "Though you make it sound as if the fact it was Doberman is half the trouble.

"I know that one by his looks alone," Robin said with a shudder. "Doberman once hunted me on an island called Deep Valley. I was only saved because I destroyed his vessel and at the time his Geppo was not up to chasing after the merchantmen I hid away on. Worse however is the fact I know his patron."

Luffy leaned back further, looking at her noticing the serious, almost fearful cast of her face in the lamplight. "Tell me," he said simply.

"Hi name is Akainu, and he is a Logia: type magma user," Robin replied equally simply. "And he will not take it well that his protege was defeated by a rookie in a one-on-one battle, even a rookie like you who had previously defeated a Shichibukai. I do not believe he will get permission to come after us himself, but what he can put in our way he will. And that will mean a lot of trouble down the line."

Luffy's face blanked as he thought about what he knew about the three logia type admirals. The only one that Luffy thought he could fight as he was at the moment was Aokiji given his near immunity to cold weather thanks to his Soul of Ice, and his use of Haki. But even Haki could be overcome by a logia type eventually, and in a duel of Haki, the will of one fighter could break the other. _I'm going to need to up my training then._

"And the rest of us?" Robin asked, making Luffy realize he had spoken those thoughts aloud.

"Training for the crew of course, Busoshoku for you for certain. If you can start using that with your hands you can be utterly deadly against Devil Fruit users. But I also want everyone to be able to use Geppo if they have to. Some endurance and movement training for you, Makino and Nami on top of leg exercises. Makino hates heights, so it'll be tough but Makino's endurance means she can't use Haki very long. if anyone needs to run, I mean to make certain they have the best tools to do it."

"Dodging training for Makino, Nami and Chopper, matching the training I've given Sanji. I'll have to do something about Nami's overall abilities too. I want her to be able to run away from anyone and everyone if that's what she wants to do. I made the mistake once of trying to make Nami a front-line fighter once, I'm not going to do it again."

With a shake of his head, Luffy threw off those serious thoughts, reaching out with the book to poke Robin in stomach. "Enough serious shit for the night, I'll think more about that tomorrow. You're the most well traveled of us all and I've been wondering a few things for a while. First, is it true that North Blue is the most advanced ocean?"

The conversation shifted from there, and neither of them noticed when the sky began to lighten the distance.

 **OOOOOOO**

Vivi sneezed and then blushed though for the life of her she couldn't figure out why.

"Someone is talking about you my dear," Cobra said with a chuckle. "At least that is what the sneeze might mean. The blush I have no idea. Is there something you want to tell your dear father?"

"Many things, but nothing that could explain my sneeze or my blush," Vivi said tartly and her father laughed.

But after a moment's levity they sobered turning back to getting their stories straight. There would need to be two layers of the story they had to share with the World Government inspectors and the Marine Admiral coming here. One was the public image, the one the WG would run with for public consumption.

The other the WG would 'discover' as they dug into things, and found out about Vivi's connection to the straw hats. It would look to the WG like a monetary arrangement, something no one would fault the kingdom or Vivi for given Crocodile's status as a Shichibukai and the scant real evidence she had before the discovery of Crocodile's Dance Powder.

On top of that would be a third story to be discovered just in case: that the Straw Hats turned on Vivi and Cobra after the deal was concluded, ransacking the library and treasury. Said treasury was of course practically empty at this point given how much monies Cobra had used during the civil war to repair the damages of the fighting, but since he had done that through subsidiaries, only Cobra, Vivi and Chaka, who had handled that job, knew about it. Well, them and Kohza now.

With those three stories in place, the WG would be satisfied with their findings. It was hoped they would not punish Alabasta or its royal family after that, but Cobra didn't know the admiral being sent to oversee things, so he didn't really know just yet. They could only make certain that their stories were prepared and everyone knew their roles in it by heart.

 **OOOOOOO**

Nami woke up the next morning stretching her arms up above her head luxuriantly. The so-called beds they were using on the _Resolve_ weren't exactly high-end, but with the number of mattresses all piled up they were comfortable things. They had been tossed around during the battle, but that had been easy to fix.

Having finished stretching Nami looked over to the other beds in the woman's quarters, her mouth opening to say hello to her roommates before she paused. Staring at the bed next to hers, Nami's hand clenched into a fist, punching the mattress. _Dammit I miss Vivi!_

She frowned then, staring unseeing at Vivi's bed as she thought about what she had seen that last night in Alubarna's palace. _It shouldn't bother me. After all, Luffy and I aren't an item, and I've never had the desire to be anyone's girlfriend. Being tied down like that is just not my scene. I should also be happy Luffy turned her down like that, but for some reason I'm just not able to be happy about that aspect when I consider the whole thing._

Whenever Nami remembered that moment when she saw Vivi kissing Luffy it made her insides boil and shrivel at the same time. It was if she was about to scream in rage and be sick at the same time. It was not a feeling she had ever felt before. There was some jealousy in there too, that at least she recognized but the rest was… different. And Nami didn't like it.

Shaking her head to free it of such thoughts, Nami hopped out of bed moving toward her wardrobe. Knowing it would be a relatively hot day today and very sunny to boot she pulled on a swimsuit top and tight barely there shorts before walking out of the room and up to the dining room.

She frowned then, seeing that the only one awake was Sanji who didn't even hear her enter, busy cooking breakfast. Makino was still asleep in the women's quarters, so her absence was no surprise but Nami had expected to see Robin and Chopper there, nursing coffee and a drink respectively as they read their books. That was the normal way they started their days, while Zoro and Luffy would have a few hours before breakfast where they would spar out on the deck.

Moving out onto the deck she found the missing Robin along Luffy sitting on the bench around the main mast, talking about something. Luffy was using his hands to describe something it looked like, though he stopped when he caught sight of Nami over Robin's shoulder.

"There you are," he said, cheerfully greeting the crew's navigator. He had gotten a few hours' sleep last night with Robin spotting him at the wheel. Chopper was up there now, watching the wheel. Zoro and Makino were the only two still asleep though in Zoro's case that wasn't exactly a surprise, given the fact Luffy hadn't roused him for training as he normally did.

"Here, catch!" Luffy said, tossing over what looked like a switch of some kind. It was too short and too thin to be a real staff.

"And what is this for?" Nami asked, somewhat nonplussed and also not happy to see the two of them sitting so closely for some reason. It felt like jealousy again, but that just couldn't be right, could it?

"An anti-stupid stick," Luffy said grinning gesturing with his head over Nami's shoulder to the galley. "It was your idea remember? For the next two days every time Sanji flirts, you get to hit him. Just nothing below the belt."

Nami looked down at the stick and over to Sanji as he came out of the door with several trays of food. As he set them down she rolled her eyes. "You didn't really think I was going to go through with that did you?"

She waited as Sanji turned, flashing heart image in his hands and vowing eternal devotion to her before going on. "I'd just get Zoro to do it for me."

Sanji immediately turned into a statue before collapsing to his knees, the hearts his eyes had become shattering.

"That was very cruel," Luffy said then raised a thumbs up. "I approve. However about ya go use that stick on Zoro right now?"

"Not that I'm complaining but why?" Nami asked, a grin on her face as she contemplated that she had just gotten permission to hit the swordsman, whose lazy manner outside of combat irritated her. the fact Luffy had asked her to beat some navigation ability into Zoro was also bothering Nami. _Best to start getting my licks in now._

"I want the entire crew together for this," Luffy said with a laugh. "I want to call Whitebeard this morning."

Nami's face paled, and Sanji changed back to normal his jaw dropping at how calmly Luffy said that. That worthy however simply clapped his hands and looked at Nami "Go on, go get Zoro."

With the crew gathered on deck around the mainmast and Nami sitting by the wheel Luffy explained what he was going to do. The reactions were mixed. Makino looked concerned, Zoro excited. Chopper afraid, Sanji awestruck and attentive. Nami was afraid while Robin was intrigued.

"This should be interesting," Zoro said, giving voice to a lot of their thoughts.

Luffy laughed in reply and then dialed in the number on the international Den-Den Mushi that they had taken from Alabasta. Unlike their paired set, this one could reach out to any other Den-Den Mushi in the world, though of course the signal quality varied.

The Mushi on the other end rang a few times before it was picked up. "Yo this is the _Moby Dick_ , who's calling?"

"Hey, is this Whitebeard?" Luffy asked.

The owner of the voice on the other end seemed to pause, obviously taking in the fact it didn't know Luffy's voice before replying in a more serious tone. "This is Marco. Why do you want to talk to Oyaji?"

"This is Straw Hat Luffy, Ace's little brother. I want to talk to his Captain."

The voice on the other hand fell silent then came back, a smirk visible on the Den-Den Mushi. "Wait a minute I'll get Oyaji."

Seconds later a new voice was on the line. It was deep, almost subterranean, so deep and powerful it sounded as if it couldn't come from a normal human's throat. "This is Whitebeard. What do you want, gaki?"

Luffy grinned. "Yo, Ossan. I've always wanted to talk to the guy who's known as the strongest man in the world. Even if you are older than dirt."

Everyone around Luffy gasped, as did a few people on the other end, but Whitebeard simply laughed loudly. "Gurarara! Cheeky brat!" Then he sobered. "But if that's all you wanted to tell me I'd prefer to be insulted to my face if at all. That way I can smack youngsters like you down personally. ANd if you can survive long enough you prove you're worth the second it'll take me to do it."

"Heh, well, I also wanted to thank you." Luffy said, somewhat more seriously.

"Thank me? Why?" Whitebeard asked quizzically. Then he seemed to nod, the motion carried over by the Den-Den Mushi, which had quickly morphed to look somewhat like Whitebeard complete with long white mustache. "You mean taking in Ace?"

"That and something else but yeah that off the bat. You gave Ace a home, you helped expunge the anger and hate in him that even me, Sabo and Makino couldn't. For that I'd thank you. But that's not all. One Piece." Luffy said, his voice turning from happy to serious on those last few words.

The Den-Den Mushi's eyes narrowed, but Luffy went on unhurriedly. "You could've declared yourself Pirate King after Gold Roger died. You could have simply said you had found One Piece. Who would've been able to say you were lying? But you didn't, you let the dream survive. For that my generation of Pirates wherever we are, we have to thank you."

Whitebeard snorted. "As if I would ever want to be Pirate King. That was never my dream boy."

"No I didn't think so, though Ace seems to think ya want to be," Luffy said with a grin.

"Brats always think like that, big dreams and not seeing what they already have. What about you," Whitebeard asked, changing the subject abruptly. "Do you and your crew want to become some of my sons?"

Everyone around Luffy gasped. After all, it wasn't every day that a rookie crew was invited to join a Yonkou's fleet. And despite the fact that they had beaten a Shichibukai they all knew they were rookies still. Ace had told them they would remain rookies until they reached the New World whatever they accomplished before that.

"I love the sentiment of nakama as family, but considering I've already killed a Shichibukai and also crippled a vice-admiral for life a few days ago…" Luffy trailed off, smirking slightly and winking at Zoro and Sanji, who looked at one another in confusion..

"Bah, you think that being my son would add more heat to that rather than take it away?" Whitebeard asked. "If you've really crippled one of those pricks it won't bring as much heat as you think in comparison to what you'll already be facing."

"Nah!" Luffy said with a laugh. "I figure though with that kind of bonafides I'd have to demand ta join your crew as your First Division commander. That mean I'd have to fight that Marco guy and he seems decent enough from what Ace said so I'd hate to have to kick his ass."

Laughter abruptly roared out from Zoro Sanji and others in the background on Whitebeard's side of the line. Marco's voice could also be heard, shouting about how he'd routinely kicked Ace's ass and he would do the same to Luffy.

But they were all drowned out by the loud booming laughter of Whitebeard. "GARARARARA! Cheeky damn brat," he bellowed between guffaws. "You really are one-of-a-kind aren't you gaki! No wonder that red-haired boy gave you his hat."

"It's the sign of a promise," Luffy said, glancing over to Makino who smiled faintly remembering that incident. "A promise I mean to keep. I'm going to find One Piece and I am going to be the Pirate King Whitebeard. No matter who gets in my way."

The other line fell silent, and then the famous Yonkou laughed again. "GURARARA, I like those words! I like those words, but that's all they are for now, just words on the lips of our rookie. You come to the New World, you stand on the deck of the _Moby Dick_ , and then we'll see if you can declare yourself so proudly."

"I'm lookin' forward to it!" Luffy said with a laugh. Then he sobered. "Ace also told me why he was in Paradise, hunting this Blackbeard character. What should I do if I run into him?"

Whitebeard fell silent, and when he spoke his voice was stern, rumbling with power that somehow communicated over the Den-Den Mushi making more than one of the Straw Hat crew tremble slightly from the force of it. "He committed the worst crime the pirate could, killing another of my sons. There is no hell deep enough for scum like that! But we will handle it in-crew Straw Hat. Don't get involved."

Luffy was unmoved by this show of force, and simply nodded. "Understood. But what if Blackbeard starts something?"

"There it'll be your choice brat. But I'll warn you not to underestimate Blackbeard. He's a cagey one, always looking for angles." Whitebeard warned.

Luffy nodded once more at that thinking it was sound advice. "Right. And which of your islands will we see first?"

"My flag flies over Mermaid Island brat, it's the only one of my holdings in Paradise. But if you cause trouble there or any of my islands your connection to my son Ace won't matter. You'll face me!"

"Well damn you didn't have to make it sound so tempting!" Luffy said with a grin.

That won Luffy a booming laugh from the other end of the Den-Den Mushi, and more than one shouts of "Oh, my God is he crazy!?" in the background and more hooting and hollering and shouts of "the Rockies got a mouth on him at least!"

"GURARARA, I look forward to meeting you in person brat," Whitebeard said before he ended the connection. The Den-Den Mushi slumped forward, slowly reverting to its base type.

Luffy looked up at Zoro, and then Sanji, holding out his fist to them and they bumped fists for a moment. "Damn that was **awesome**!"

"Awesome?!" Nami bellowed, her teeth changing into that of a shark as she smacked Luffy upside the head. "Awesome, that was the most terrifying thing I've ever heard of!"

Luffy shrugged his shoulders, not acknowledging the hit. "Whitebeard's not all that bad. In fact going from that discussion and what Ace told us, I think he's a regular old softy in comparison to the other three Yonkou. Let alone the WG. Cheer up Nami, this is all part of the adventure we're on!"

 **OOOOOOO**

"…And it is likely that Doberman will never walk again unaided let alone use his arms. The damage is so extensive, that it will be a minor miracle if he'll even able to lift his arms, let alone fight ever again. Akainu has submitted his name for use in the Pacifista project, but it remains to be seen if his body will be compatible with the procedure." An old man said scowling angrily as he put down the report he had been reading aloud to look around him.

He was a tall, tanned man with wide shoulders, blond hair, and a neat goatee. There was a large scar visible under his shirt running up into his neckline.

"The marines severely underestimated this Monkey D. Luffy," said another old man, kneading his forehead over a pair of large spectacles. In one hand he held a long, sheathed sword, the length of which was like a broadsword, but the blade was made more like a normal katana. "It's a pity he wasn't very well known known before this, we could offer to make him a Shichibukai if so."

"He is entirely too unknown, though that won't last once it is known he defeated a Vice-Admiral. That information at least we can share with the common public and not further rock the pillars of power. Indeed we probably should in order to explain away the size of his bounty now." Another old man said, standing perfectly still and staring out a nearby window. Other than his beard, which was made to look like three daggers pressed together, there was nothing odd about him that would force anyone to notice him in a crowd.

"I'll have the Marines start issuing a statement to that effect set another Oyaji, with shaggy hair done in ringlets around his head and a wimple on his head. He had a thick cane in his hand he was leaning on at present, sitting forward on his chair as he looked around at the four other old men in the room. "They're already looking for a replacement."

These men were the Gorosei, the Five elder stars. They were the heads of the World Government, the most powerful men in the world. It was their word that made laws, set the marines in motion or the assassinations of the World Government. And at present they were all rather angry. Though oddly enough most of their anger wasn't directed at Luffy. Yes, they were irritated that the marines had failed in killing or apprehending him, but most of their anger was directed at Luffy's former enemy.

"Damn Crocodile! Does he know nothing about the balance of forces in the world? Thanks to his stupidity, the world's peace is vulnerable!"

 **OOOOOOO**

"…This is unusual," said Sengoku, looking on as Dracule Mihawk marched in, taking his place at the table. Not just because his presence was unanticipated, but Sengoku had noticed that the world's greatest Swordsman was looking a little frayed around the edges.

Catching Sengoku's look at him, Dracule simply shrugged. "A sudden bout of violence beset me yesterday. But I am here. I have a certain interest in the pirate group that caused this incident."

"Now that's just **fascinating** ," said a drawling sort of voice, and Mihawk turned, looking at the speaker with his hawk-like eyes. That look would have set normal men running, but Doflamingo was anything but a normal man.

The other Shichibukai simply looked at Mihawk with interest, his eyes hidden behind his sunglasses as normal. "What could a rookie crew have done to interest you? Or is it just the fact they beat Crocodile?"

"My interest in them is my own," Dracule said simply, turning away as if Doflamingo was of little importance, looking over at Sengoku.

Doflamingo glared, his fingers twitching, but before he could do anything Sengoku spoke again. "Enough! We are here to discuss the replacement for Crocodile, not the crew that dispatched him. They will be dealt with soon enough, i have dispatched fleets to find, pin them down and then exterminate them already. Right now, does anyone have a suggestion as to who we should invite to join you Shichibukai scum?"

"Ahem, may I interrupt here?"

The people at the large table turned, none of them evincing any surprise at the voice or the individual who stood on the outer balcony by one of the windows. All of them had known he was there, but had discounted him as any sort of threat. "And who exactly are you?" Sengoku asked, one eyebrow raised behind his glasses.

 **OOOOOOO**

"God dammit, will it ever stop raining!?" Luffy shouted at the top of her lungs while she worked the sails with Sanji and Zoro. All three of them looked bedraggled but Luffy, with her longer hair, looked more like a drowned rat than the other two at present.

"Probably not until tomorrow night at the least," Nami said cheerfully from underneath an awning by the wheel.

Luffy glared over at her and muttered, "that's an extra 20 minutes of training for you."

Somehow over the wind and rain Nami heard the redhead and paled, while the others nearby working on the rigging chuckled, even Sanji. Indeed, he was looking a little twitchy. Having been out in the rain so long had forced him to forgo his smoking for at least half a day now, and he was having serious withdrawal issues.

That first day after they had broken off from Bon's pirate crew had turned out to be the equivalent of the Grand Line giving them a mercy time out. Afterwards the weather of the Grand Line had begun to rear its ugly head once more and Luffy had after the third day of constant rain, snow and sleet, decided that she would not even try to tempt fate anymore by trying to change back into his male body when she was off duty.

This had of course had an impact on the training regimen for both him/herself Luffy had wanted to push to the next level as well as for everyone else:

"Oh, how can I be expected to fight such a delicate flowOOW!" Sanji shouted, holding his hand up to his forehead.

Luffy hefted another musket ball in his hand, grinning evilly at the cook. "You want to repeat that?"

"No," Sanji muttered. The entire idea of even fighting Luffy in his female form was anathema to his sense of chivalry, but he had learned via several painful lessons since he had joined this crew not to let his chivalrous instincts overcome his common sense when dealing with the redhead.

Looking around Luffy nodded to Robin, Nami and Makino who stood nearby. The four of them and Sanji stood in the center of the hold, the bags of money, gold and supplies all pushed to the sides, disorganizing the hold badly but creating an open area they could use to practice this lesson.

All of them, even Luffy, were wearing bikinis all of which had been bought by Nami back in Alabasta. Combined they looked like any man's wet dream come to life... right up until said male noticed the smirks they all wore. At that point the dream would become a nightmare.

"Ready?" At the nods and smiles from the other girls, Luffy held up her hand. "Remember this exercise won't end until you can bring yourself to actually attack one of the others Sanji, I know you've gotten over it with me so don't just luanch at me. Until then, we're going to continue pelting you with musket balls. And…go!"

"Oh this is going to be utterly shitty," Sanji muttered then began to dodge, trying to force his feed forward towards one of the ladies but unable to just yet.

And of course there was more general training too:

"You ready Zoro?" Luffy asked.

Zoro grunted, pulling on his damp bandanna and sticking Wado Ichimonji's hilt into his mouth as he crossed his other two blades in front of him. At present he was the only one standing on the _Revenge's_ deck. Luffy and Sanji were hopping along beside it the three of them making a sort of triangle shape as they glared at one another.

Nearby Chopper stood waiting for his turn, his fur matted to his body by the rain but he still didn't look quite as rain-soaked as the three humans did. "Ready, go!" He shouted, and the three of them attacked one another, fists and feet flying, sword slashing through the air.

Like Luffy, Zoro and Sanji both learned better actually fighting one another, but it was something they couldn't do inside the schooner unless they wanted to strip out the cannons from one of its two decks. None of them were willing to do that after the battle against the Marines. They had been able to create an obstacle course and other things of that nature inside before they even reached Alabasta, but actual room for sparring they would have to use the deck for, but Luffy had decided that wasn't enough exercise.

So he had decided that the trio of main combatants would get more out of it if they also had to work on their Geppo at the same time, and it had worked tremendously well. Sanji's ability in Geppo had become almost second nature to him now, and his kicks were so powerful that even Luffy felt them if they got through his defenses. They weren't near to breaking Tekkai, but Luffy estimated they would be within another few weeks. Zoro's ability in it had also climbed dramatically, to where he could use it and fight at the same time. IT wasn't his preferred style, but he could use it to good effect.

Chopper and the girls had a somewhat easier time of it the girls since Makino and Robin had won an argument with Luffy on how they could be trained. Chopper in contrast worked on upper body muscle strength with Zoro for at least four hours a day, and then with Luffy for two hours a day on sparring practice but he wasn't being trained on Geppo just yet. Given that he was a Devil Fruit user if he fell into the ocean it was quite a bit more dangerous for him than if Luffy or Sanji did. And with the weather as bad as it was no one wanted to chance it.

He had actually volunteered to try it anyway, but Luffy had vetoed the little guy. "Just because I want to train you hard, doesn't mean I want to train you stupid Chopper. No way am I going to risk you like that it. Though," he said holding up a hand as Chopper began to blush and stammer that he wasn't happy at all that Luffy felt that way, "I **will** work you extra hard the moment we get to an island."

Makino and Robin had pointed out that the girls didn't learn in the same manner as the boys and were excused sparring practice in lieu of other things. Makino took Nami under her belt the day the weather turned against them, training her with guns every morning and then in dodging training the rest of the time. Unfortunately, it turned out that Nami had little training and no eye for using guns.

Looking down at the marker that she had just retrieved from the other end of the gun deck, Makino walked back to Nami shaking her head. "You can spot minute changes in wind and weather and predict when it will change even here on the Grand LIne but you can't hit a target with a pistol?"

"Oh hush," Nami said, shoving the older woman slightly with one hand. "How long did it take you to get as good as you are?"

Makino looked away sheepishly. "No comment."

 _The fact is,_ Makino reflected as the two of them began to set up the obstacle course for the next hour or so of training, _that my fighting abilities are near or at the peek of where they will ever be. The abilities of this crew are still growing._ Makino knew she had skill in other things, reading people, understanding them, a certain amount of willpower and organizational ability which came from running a bar for so many years on her own. But as an actual fighter Makino knew that she would eventually be left behind by even Nami.

Nami herself didn't see it, but the girl **was** getting better. Not so much as a gun user, but her ability to dodge, and her strength both in her legs and arms were slowly rising from where they had been when she joined the crew. She just wasn't a monster like the four boys.

Robin worked with Makino and Nami in the afternoon on dodging practice and leg exercises and trained with Luffy extensively in the morning after breakfast. She had come up with a few ways to use traps and unmanned toys to create a training area for Observation Haki and she knew quite a bit about meditation. She had never really gotten into the idea of reaching out to the world around them before, but she had read a lot of books which did. So with that and Luffy's own starting point they felt they could make progress.

In return Luffy had begun training her on Tekkai:

Luffy looked at frowned been quizzically that first evening shaking her head sheepishly. "Sorry, but there's no easy way of doing this. I mean I'm just going to have to basically hit you as you try to concentrate and tense your body until you can figure out how to do it. It will help build up your endurance, but it isn't exactly painless."

Shaking her head Robin replied. "I'm no stranger to pain, though I will admit this is the first time I've actually trained like this. And the idea of simply letting someone hit me is rather counter-intuitive."

"Hmmm…In that case, maybe we shouldn't truck start right off with Tekkai. Maybe we should start with actual combat styles instead?"

Robin shook her head. "I'm not a pugilist, nor am I a kick fighter."

"Kickboxer," Luffy corrected.

"Whatever!" Robin said with a laugh. She was laughing more often these days, she reflected, before speaking up aloud. "That doesn't matter. My point was that I usually let my powers do my fighting for me and there is no style out there which would work with the ability to create feet, hands and other things around me and my enemies. If I have to rely on a personal combat style, then I am already losing."

"So you want to join Nami in figuring out how to use Geppo, Soru, and Kami-E?"

"Yes," Robin said with a nod. "That makes more sense."

"Fine I suppose," Luffy replied, then smiled a little. "However, what if I told you I could find a martial art style for you?"

Robin made a get on with it gesture and Luffy smiled even wider. "It's called Aikido, or the gentle fist, and it works primarily by using your opponents strengths against him. Wait here."

The redhead went to fetch Chopper, Sanji and Zoro, who joined them under in the gun deck, with Sanji promptly bowing towards Robin. "Does the lady want for anything at the moment?"

"Thank you chef-san, but no," Robin said politely. "I believe the captain asked you down here to help you demonstrate something he might want to teach me."

"I hope this doesn't involve hurricaning Robin in any way," Sanji said mildly, though there was nothing mild about the fires in his eyes as he turned and glared at Luffy.

"Hurricaning?" Luffy asked deadpan. _How does he change his eyes like that?_

"Meh, you gotta admit it leaves an impression Luffy," Zoro grunted.

"Heh, well no, this is about learning a martial art style. It's called Aikido, any of you hear of it?"

Zoro frowned. "I've heard that name before, but I don't know any of it." the others all shook their heads.

"Yeah it's definitely not your style Zoro," Luffy replied with a laugh. "It's not entirely a defensive style it is a subtle one, and the three of us, we don't do subtle. You'll see."

She moved into the center of the gun deck then took a stance, one hand held forward from the body in an open palm, the other one up by Luffy's head also in an open palm. She stood loose, there was no tenseness in her body whatsoever as she looked around at the others. "Attack me," Luffy said simply.

The three of them looked at one another, and then as one said "gladly."

They all raced forward, with Chopper swiftly changing from his normal form into his Heavy Point. His hoof flashed forward in a punch that segued into a massive fist aimed not towards the knees that he had seemed to be aiming for but Luffy's face. Sanji move forward with a kick aimed for the back of Luffy's head. Zoro simply charged forward, going for a straight punch towards Luffy's chest.

Luffy seemed to bend up around what the first blow which was Sanji's. it almost looked like she had used Kami-E but she wasn't quite. Her open palm came up directing Sanji's kick above her head, while at the same time Luffy whirled, using her other hand to redirect Chopper's charge into Zoro. A light kick towards Zoro's legs later and both of them went down in a heap.

Sanji quickly flipped in midair, and came down with an axe kick. But once more Luffy simply dodged to the side, one hand going towards Sanji's pivot leg, disrupting it enough to send him scrolling as well.

This kind of thing continued for several moments, with none of the other three able to land a blow until Luffy called a halt. The three attackers were a little battered but Luffy had taken it easy on them. This was proven a moment later, when she ordered Zoro to volunteer to show some of the holds she could've used. "If you're strong enough, you could dislocate an elbow, arm, or shoulder like this," she said, holding up Zoro's hand up above his head, where Zoro had tried to throw another punch.

"You can also of course aim for his armpit, which is a bundle of nerve endings. Any hit there will take anyone's mind off of hurting you." "Interesting Robin replied, "I'll think about it."

"That's all I ask," Luffy said, releasing Zoro much to the swordsman's well-hidden relief. "For now though, I'm afraid it's time for your Tekkai training."

Robin move forward, and sat down in a cross-legged position, breathing in deeply and exhaling closing her eyes as she began to meditate. Then she tensed her body, and looked up at Luffy. "Ready."

Later that day Robin was regretting her decision, sore and bruised from head to toe or near enough. Luffy hadn't gone for her feet, but it surely felt as if someone had been hammering her with a series of different sized hammers all day.

"I did warn you…" Luffy said, wincing a little as she stepped back.

At that sign the training was over Robin gasped. Falling to the side of the deck for a moment Robin shook her head as her body screamed death threats to her mind. "You did, and I thought I was prepared for it," she said ruefully once she was certain she wouln't simply shout invective at her captain or herself for agreeing to this.

Luffy scratched at her pigtail for a moment, then leaned down, and gently picked Robin up off the deck, holding Robin in her arms as she made for the hatch. Robin didn't protest this woman-handling, simply letting her head fall against Luffy shoulder as she murmured "where are we going?"

"I think your training's done for the day. I'll set you up in the ladies room, then get you your latest book from the dinning room. "Or do you think a shower will make you feel better?"

The schooner's shower facilities were still nothing to write home about, since Luffy didn't have enough pipes to redo the plumbing, and it had taken him a while to figure out how he wanted to change them around anyway, plumbing was tricky after all, especially on a ship. That would be one thing he would buy at their next stop, along with a bit more wood since the crew had gone through most of the _Resolve_ 's stock after the battle.

"A lie down sounds wonderful," Robin replied. "Could you get Makino or Nami, i'd love a massage."

"Doubt it. Nami's at the wheel right now, and Makino is asleep. She was on watch last night, remember? I suppose I could give you one..." Luffy said hesitantly.

"Really?" Robin asked, leaning away slightly so she could turn her head up to look at the redhead's face.

"Sure. I did the same thing for Nami when she started the toughness training."

"Oh you did?" Robin said. She had intended her voice to come up as merely curious. Yet Robin knew it that had come out a little more accusatory than she had wanted.

Luffy didn't seem to notice, simply nodding, busy as she was with her own thoughts. Massaging Nami had been tough in a lot of ways, but doing the same to Robin would probably be worse in some ways, easier in others. _Thank goodness I'm in my female form, and Robin ain't the type to tease me._

"In that case i agree. You did the damage, so you get to help me feel better after."

"That's fair," Luffy said with a somewhat forced laugh, causing Robin to chuckle..

As she lay down on her bed, Robin debated whether or not to change her clothing in preparation for this massage. She eventually decided against it however. It wasn't that she was ashamed of her body, far from it. But even with Luffy in his female body Robin wasn't certain where that would go, and that uncertainty plagued her somewhat.

Robin had never been involved emotionally with someone before. Physically she had been of course, Robin wasn't a virgin by any means and she had even been able to decide who she slept with the first time, something she knew was a rarity among pirate women. Nor was she a prude. Robin had had several lovers over her lifetime, though calling them lovers was a bit too fraught with emotional entanglements than any of those incidences had been.

Some of them had actually been good at it too which had made her rather sorrowful to turn on them the instant they had begun to plan to do the same to her. But such was life for a lone woman moving through the underworld of the Grand lIne.

But this, this was new territory for her. She knew she was attracted to Luffy physically. She'd known that barely 2 days after meeting the man/woman. But the emotional attachment had begun to build a few days after that, and Robin wasn't certain how to deal with it. She wasn't certain if she should act on it, or not, or really what she was feeling at all. _Perhaps, perhaps I should take this chance? Perhaps I should truly embrace this crew as my nakama, like Saul said i'd find?_

The moment that thought entered her mind however she remembered Jaguar D. Saul's death, the burning of the Ohara behind her, and Aokiji, freezing a crew of pirates that she had used to get away from the next island along the chain. _No,_ she thought again. _No I might like and respect this crew, but I can't… I need to prepare myself for the inevitable. If Aokiji learns that I am part of this crew given what else has happened they will come after us, and if that is the case then I will need to be ready to leave, if only to lead Aokiji away from my friends._

That hurt. But for the first time, the thought of her personal bogeyman was accompanied by other thoughts along the lines of ' _maybe you're selling them a little too short?"_ and _'hasn't Luffy proven himself tough enough yet?'_

The moment where Luffy used Haoshoku to knock out the Millions came back to Robin, the feel of the beast Luffy kept chained inside. And for a moment the images warred in her mind with one another, Luffy's proven strength and abilities on one side, against the deadliness of the Marine Buster Call and Aokiji on the other.

To these questions Robin had no answer, and their inner turmoil remained unresolved as Luffy began his ministrations.

Luffy straddled Robin's back, her thighs were directly on either side of Robin's own, putting no weight on her legs or rear as she raised her hands to the older woman's neck, starting there. _Fucking hormones, ugh, I know they effect me in both my forms but this is not the time for them! This is just a friend doing something to relieve a friend's pain, heh after causing it too so it really is only fair as Robin said._

"Ahh… that feels nice," Robin murmured, feeling Luffy's small feminine hands on her neck. She winced as those hands gripped her neck and pulled it to one side, making Robin realize just then how vulnerable she was, and had chosen to be in front of this man/woman, her captain. But Luffy had done that to help get a kink out and her fingers swiftly kneaded it out of existence. "Mm… didn't realize how tense I was…"

"Hah, given you were just practicing tensing your body that shouldn't be a surprise Robin." Luffy murmured in a low voice. One hand went down Robin's becak, pressing and kneading there while Luffy's other hand moved to her shoulders, trying hard not to get too into it despite her hormones arguing the point. Even through her clothing the feel of Robin underneath Luffy was alluring in the extreme, and the touches of skin on skin contat Luffy had while working on Robin's neck only added to it.

"What do you do to keep your skin so soft?" Luffy asked, trying to keep her mind on anything but the curve of Robin's rear under hers.

"Mmm… I make my own lotion out of aloe and some other things." Robin replied arching her back as Luffy found a sore point between her shoulder blades then moaning as Luffy worked out the knot. "I can make some for you if you like?"

"Nah, not for me, but Nami and Makino have complained about dry skin a few times. Figure it's my job as captain to make problems go away, large or small." Luffy replied.

Robin chuckled at that. "Mmmm, I think your definitions of both problem and captain are different than anything I've experienced before. Not thaaaammm… that it's a bad thing. Ohhh right there…"

Simply nodding Luffy continued to work on Robin's side, which was particularly sore and bruised. She had to be careful given the bruising but that had bene true all along and hadn't stopped her yet. "Good?"

Hearing Robin's groaning reply, Luffy moved on to her thighs. No more words were exchanged, the two of them falling into a comfortable, almost intimate silence as Luffy continued to work and Robin slowly began to drift off into sleep.

As her eyes began to close in to sleep and Luffy's massage continued, Robin fell asleep with a smile. At the same time the thought _, maybe some things are worth trying, even if the might end up hurting me in the end_ went through her head.

Robin and the others got their revenge on Luffy the day after that massage. With Makino and Chopper on duty outside, Robin joined the others in the training room, where Luffy took his place in the center. All of them carried large staves save Zoro, who had retrieved two of the throwaway swords from their hold.

"Okay, so… this is training my Busoshoku endurance." Luffy said hesitantly, for once back in his male body for this. As they watched his skin turning shiny black. "Um… have at me."

The crew all grinned even Robin, raising their weapons. "This will hurt you a lot more than us captain~," Nami said teasingly. "But remember your favorite phrase, no pain, no gain."

"Just not the eyes!" Luffy shouted, before his crew descended on him.

 **OOOOOOO**

Eventually the weather finally began to clear, a day dawning bright and sunny for the first time since the day after they had split off from the Okama pirate. At the time Robin and Chopper were on deck. Robin was up in the crow's nest, and Chopper was manning the wheel as Nami and the other slowly came out, acting almost like they were afraid coming out on deck would somehow signal the Grand Line that it should restart the bad weather.

Luffy looked at Nami hopefully, her eyes wide and her hands together as if she was begging or perhaps praying. Luffy was used to his female body by this point, and though he would never say it to anyone else had actually begun to see the benefits of it in some ways. But that didn't mean he was ever entirely comfortable in it, which said nothing about the downside of spending so much time in that body.

The navigator looked around, staring up into the sky in every direction for a few moments, then all around them before she finally nodded. "Were going to get some nasty wind soon, but I don't see anything to indicate the rain or anything that can trigger your curse will come at us today captain," she said formally, though her lips were twitching in an effort to not grin at the other woman.

"Hallelujah!" Luffy shouted throwing her arms in the air and hopping back inside quickly.

"But don't you want to at least sunbathe with us?" Makino asked after her, only to have to dodge a plate that the aquatranssexual had grabbed from the table as she passed. Makino and Nami exchanged a laugh while the rest of the crew slowly began to come outside eager to have a nice day for once.

Halfway through the day Sanji and Luffy were high up above the ship, practicing their Geppo combat against one another when Sanji called a halt out of the blue. "Hold on."

Luffy looked at him, then turned and looked in the same direction Sanji was looking. Three ships were coming over the horizon in the direction the _Resolve_ was currently heading, and from up here the two pirates could spot their colors. "Marines," Sanji growled shaking his head.

"Dodge!" Luffy ordered suddenly, canceling his Geppo for a split second.

Sanji quickly did the same, staring at Luffy then up into the air as twin whizzing sounds reached him, something small and moving very fast passing through where they had previously been. "What was that?"

"A speed coin attack like that Doberman guy tried to use on me. The name varies," Luffy said, then danced to one side, literally rolling in midair and down a bit before getting his feet under him again and reactivating his Geppo. The two Pirates exchanged a glance and Luffy grinned cracking his knuckles. "Someone's picking a fight."

"It would be ungentlemanly not to reply," Sanji said with an equally eager grin.

"Come on, let go warn the others," Luffy ordered, canceling his Geppo in stages not so much hopping down as dropping down in large clumps towards the _Resolve_. The two of them landed down on one of the main masts crossbars, nodding to Zoro who was on watch. As they landed both men took a moment to stare down at the three ladies who had taken this opportunity to get some sun very seriously indeed.

Nami was laying on her back, her bikini top undone so as not to give her any lines, her pert heart-shaped rear covered with a barely there string bikini. Her skin glistened with the sunscreen she had put on before laying down.

A V-cut one piece bikini, Robin's suit was slightly more conservative at first glance. But with her slightly fuller look and the fact she was laying on her back rather than her chest it left just as little to the imagination. Her bronze skin needed no help to gleam in the sunlight.

And Luffy did not even look towards more where Makino wore an equally barely there bathing suit. Such things were what horror stories were made of. He'd had enough problems when he noticed the suit for the first time, he had no wish to see his big sister figure actually wearing it.

Sanji on the other hand took in Makino's form just as avidly as the other two, his eyes heart shapes. Makino was laying on her back like Robin, wearing a bathing suit slightly more conservative than Nami's, it's blue and gold stripes standing out on her white skin, bringing attention to her rock hard abs and womanly hips if not her smaller chest in relation to the other two.

"Oy!" Zoro grunted, interrupting the other two's staring. "What brought you two done so fast?"

"Oh yeah," Luffy muttered, shaking his head to rid it of the images of acres of flesh below.

Sanji did the same on the other side of Zoro, then stared at his captain in shock. "Wait, you actually have a libido!?"

"Shut up!" Luffy growled while Zoro and Sanji laughed.

None of the boys noticed Robin smiling slightly from her position, having noticed their arrival and their attention.

A moment later, however Luffy had moved past that to more important things. "Up and at them folks, three Marine ships coming in dead ahead!"

Nami quickly push yourself off of the folding chair where she had been sunning, reaching behind her and doing up her top before moving over to the wheel. "I'll turn us a little to starboard, we can run ahead of them for a time when wind picks up in a few minutes. We were going to have to fight it but if we actually go with it, we can leave the Marines behind quickly."

Luffy shook his head. "We're already within range apparently, whoever is over there can use that finger bomb trick that Doberman tried on me, he took me and Sanji under fire when we were in the air. It's a line of sight thing, but I'd bet if we try to get away he'll come after us via Geppo and if that attack hits the ship..." Luffy left that thought hanging for a moment then went on. "We can't get away clean."

"And who would want to anyway?" Zoro asked, stretching his arms above his head and then letting one hand rest on his three sword hilts for a moment. "If they're picking a fight, I say we give them one."

"I thought you were trying not to think with your fists all the time," Nami said accusingly staring up at Luffy, crossing her arms under her breasts and smirking as Luffy looked away before she paused. "Wait, from dead ahead? They weren't after us at all? Are we near a Marine base?" Nami asked looking over at Robin, who was making her way down the stairs, intent on changing clothing if they were going to get into a fight.

Robin paused to think for a moment before she shook her head. "No, but there are a few Marine flotillas around. Is it two galleons and a schooner, or some other grouping?"

"Three schooners," Luffy replied promptly.

"Then we might not have been able to get away anyway," Nami groused. "Not if they have someone like you and Sanji can stay in the air and spot for them, setting aside the threat of these coin attacks of yours if they come within visual range. Darn it."

"Don't worry, this isn't a fight to the end or anything like that. Sanji, Zoro, you're with me. The rest of you do as Nami says, just stay away from them for now over the horizon, if you see them, start moving the ship as wildly as you can. We'll do the rest," Luffy replied.

 **OOOOOOO**

"Stop dodging, damn it!" Shouted a rather old Marine captain into the air at the same time Luffy and Sanji were dodging around. He was darkly tanned, with a wide thick-lipped mouth and silver blond hair. He had leather wrappings around his forearms and hands, including several of his fingers, which were currently a blur as he tried to tag Sanji in midair where the cook was dodging. "This is so frustrating! Can we point any of the cannons up there?"

A Marine nearby saluted crisply but answered in the negative. "Apologies captain but they aren't even in range yet. Your finger bomb has a longer range than our cannons, and is quite a bit more accurate. Are you sure they are even pirates sir?"

"Only when the person isn't dodging all over the place! " The Marine Captain groused before answering his subordinate's question. "As to who they are, no other Marine unit should be in the area, and that leaves pirates, pirates who know Geppo, which means they aren't just nobodies. Put on more sail, let's see if we can catch their ship up."

Just then the figures in the air disappeared, dropping out of sight over the horizon. The captain scowled ordering on more and more sail until they finally hove to over the horizon from their target.

The man up in the crow's nest, an equally old, somewhat disheveled looking lieutenant, held a spyglass to his eye and shouted down at the captain. "It is a pirate ship, mark is that of a straw hat on a grinning skull and crossbones, with what looks like a pigtail or something."

"That is the flag is that of the new rookie Straw Hat Luffy! Shouted an intelligence officer nearby, an old, somewhat overweight officer.. 160,000,000 beli, proceed with extreme caution."

The news about Dobermans defeat had not been shared with all the small flotillas even around Alabasta just yet, or else the orders might well have been 'avoid or follow at a respectable distance' rather than simply 'proceed with caution'.

And these three Marine crews might well have been served better to actually listen to even that little bit of advice from higher up. Instead, the three schooners spread out, trying to come at the still approaching pirate vessel from every angle so that it couldn't suddenly cut and run. It seemed to be trying to, swiftly shifting to starboard and away the wind with it rather than with the Marines. But the pirate's navigator seemed to have waited too long, and the captain nodded grimly.

"We'll catch up to them in a moment," said a feminine voice nearby. The woman, another lieutenant, moved toward her captain, whispering into his ear. "Have you forgotten what we need to do here?"

The captain lowered his arm from where he had been about to fire a finger bomb at the pirate ship to look at the woman next to him. "I haven't, but darn it how are we supposed to let them get away if…" Just then he looked up abruptly, hearing a whistling noise.

 **OOOOOOO**

Luffy, Sanji and Zoro had hopped off the back of the Resolve and then on an angle away from the ship and the incoming Marines, until they were well out of sight of even anyone on the deck of the roof _Resolve_ before hopping higher and higher up in the air and doubling back. Soon enough they were each above a Marine vessel and began to drop down on top of them, with Luffy in the lead.

"Banzai!" Luffy shouted, actually canceling his Geppo technique entirely and flipping himself head down, diving like a swooping hawk through the air.

"Our captain's fucking crazy!" Zoro laughed, a little unnerved by how high the three of them were the moment, though he would never show it.

Sanji chuckled, flicking away his cigarette and lighting a new one before taking along puff. "Maybe, but it works." With that he canceled his own technique, dropping feet first not head first like Luffy, straight down towards the second schooner.

Growling Zoro followed, pulling his swords as he prepared himself.

Coming out of the sun and from an angle directly over the Marine vessels, the result of their sudden attack was total chaos. The Marines barely had a few seconds to hear the whistle of Luffy's approach through the air before he flipped himself back up right and started to slow down right over the ship. Before even the captain could attack him Luffy brought his hands forward slashing out Rankyaku attacks not at the Marines, but at the masts.

Off to one side Sanji did the same, lashing out with one leg while retaining his use of Geppo with the other. At the same time Zoro used his own long-range attack on Luffy's other side. Within seconds, all three schooners were demasted and listing badly. The masts and accompanying rigging had toppled over their sides slowly turning the three schooners in the water as the Marines scrambled for cover shouted, screamed and tried to bring their rifles to bare with little effect.

Just as he finished the attack Luffy ducked his head to one side as another finger bomb sent a penny through where his head had been, landing on the prow of the ship and scowling at the Marine who had launched it. "I would've thought the demonstration just now would've told you to stop trying to fight us! All we're trying to do is sail on, we didn't go looking for trouble here. And I figure Marines in this area at the very least would've been told not to try anything with us except with overwhelming force, which three ships **aren't**."

The Marines on this ship all growled and raised their guns and swords, but their captain held up a hand, shouting at the top of his lungs to be heard by the other ships too. "That's enough! He just destroyed our rigging, think about what could've happened if he had had any of you without attack."

"You would've gone swimming," Luffy said 'helpfully', smirking at them all. "That wasn't a sharp Rankyaku but a blunt one. Whoever I'd hit with it would be bruised for days but if you got them out of the drink fast enough they'd still be alive."

"How about this then?" the Marine captain said, stepping forward. "If you think you're so honorable, how about a fight between captains instead of our crews?"

Luffy looked at the older man thoughtfully then nodded slowly. "I'm game." With that he hopped backwards off the ship, hopping in midair until he was once more hovering slightly above the ships deck. "If you are come and get me."

The Marine Captain threw off his captain's cloak and then charged forward, leaping into the air and moving towards Luffy with his own Geppo. The two swiftly exchanged punches a few times, but Luffy could already tell that this captain, while a tough old sod, wasn't even up to Smoker's standard without his logia let alone Hina.

This was merely a face-saving gesture from a man who had made a mistake, knew it and wanted to save his crews. Luffy could understand that and decided to go easy on the old guy, smashing his hand upwards and hitting him in the chin with a regular punch rather than his Amiguriken or Haki-infused punch. It still rattled the old man's teeth, and threw his head back hard, but he shook it off like a trooper and came in again.

"There's actually something I want from you." The man growled under his breath inaudible to anyone looking on from the three damaged ships.

"Other than my head?" Luffy quipped, wondering what the old guy was talking about.

"I don't want your head at all! I know I'm not strong enough to take it anyway. But, there's something I need a pirate crew to do which Marines can't be involved in, at least not right away."

"You want me to do some dirty work for you?" Luffy asked incredulously. "You've got balls old guy, but why the hell should I listen to you?"

"Because you're going to Ruluka Island anyway. Besides, what will it hurt you to hear me out?"

"Hearing you out costs me nothing. The question is, what will be in it for me and my crew?"

"I don't know. Are you pirates interested in beating up a corrupt mayor? While the locals probably look the other way as you make off with some of his treasure?" the marine captain replied, a smirk on his wide, thick lips.

 **OOOOOOO**

"…So that old captain, Rapa-something, has heard rumors about the mayor of this town apparently being an old pirate. But the townsfolk either don't know or won't testify, so his hands are officially tied. Weird, but not entirely out there. What really interested me though was that he passed on some stories about special weapons this Whetton guy and his bully-boys use, which sounds like things we could make use of in the future." Luffy concluded, looking around at the crew.

By this point the _Resolve_ was well away from the near-to stranded marines having left them floundering behind them. Now it was pushing nighttime and all of the crew were once more around the wheel which had turned into the crew's impromptu meeting place, for important discussions anyway. Parties happened down on the main deck.

"After he told me about it I knocked him out, dropped him back on his ship and came back here to talk to you all. It sounds like a chance to make some easy cash, and get our hands on some unique weapons, especially since we are going to this Ruluka Island anyway, right?"

"I like the idea of easy cash!" Nami said cheerfully, before sobering. "Besides, if this mayor really is an ex-pirate exploiting the people of Ruluka, that hits a little too close to home for me."

Sanji bowed grandly towards her before standing upright, flicking the ashes off his cigarette. "If Nami-chan agrees, than so do I. We could also use some more greens and red meats too. Feeding the Okama pirates and this past week have put us below where I'd like to see our supplies be."

"You're the captain Luffy, if you say we should get involved in this, we will," Zoro said, putting his and Chopper's opinion plain. Robin was looking thoughtful, but remained silent for now. Luffy had noticed that she often did that: when Robin didn't know exactly what to say, she simply stayed silent, watching everything around her.

"Then in that case, I think it's time to do some pirating Robin Hood style," Luffy said with a laugh.

Robin started at that, then laughed as Chopper looked at her innocently. "Ooh is that your real last name?"

"Ahh, no, Nico really is my last name." Robin replied, regaining her composure quickly. _The tales of Robin Hood. Now that is a very, very old tale and not one that has ever been published even in East Blue given its antiauthoritarian leanings. So where did Luffy hear of them?_ "Exactly what kind of pirating would be 'Robin style'?" she asked probingly, though no one caught that.

"Take from the rich and give to the poor. Or in this case give to ourselves and the poor at the same time if this Whetton guy's been taxing his folk so hard. When we ransack his mansion we can turn over most of his ill-gotten gains to the locals and keep the weapons. This little bit of pillaging isn't just about the cash after all." Luffy said.

"Bite your tongue Luffy, it's always about the gold." Nami retorted, scowling at the very idea anyone would think different while Robin merely nodded, adding another tally to the list of clues she was gathering about Luffy's training.

 **OOOOOOO**

"I think the negotiations went well. That punk doesn't seem the sort to not get involved in anything that can bring him a fight, which matches my memory of him," the captain of the marines Ranma had dueled said. It hadn't been much of a duel the man reflected, smiling ruefully at his friends as they gathered around his bed in the medical room. "At least that's my read on him, and I hope it's accurate, or I just got my rear kicked in for nothing."

the Five officers around him laughed at that. But then one looked out the door to the rest of the captain's flagship, where the wreckage of the destroyed masts had been cleared over the side, leaving the schooner without sail but at least free to move. Beyond that was his own ship and the third in the flotilla, which was in similar straits. "Erm, that's nice and all, but did he have to destroy our masts like that? We'll be days behind them!"

 **OOOOOOO**

Ruluka Island seemed to have a decent cove almost enclosed by high rocky cliffs which squeezed the entrance to barely the size of two schooners abreast. As they entered this break in the rock the ship was hailed by a guard on duty outside a watchtower. The watch tower in question was short and almost squat, but it had several cannons pointing down into the entrance to the cove. "Halt! All ships who enter Ruluka Island must pay a tax, 20,000 beli per masthead."

Luffy shrugged his shoulders. "What if we drop anchor away from the port? That way we're not even using any of the island's services." At the same time, he looked at Robin, twitching his head toward the tower.

Realizing what he wanted, Robin crossed her arms sending several eyes up the outside of the watchtower then into it's interior before shaking her head. An instant later she formed a mouth right behind Luffy's ear, whispering "I've taken care of the fellows behind the cannons."

Luffy blushed as he felt Robin's breath on his ear like that, causing her to turn away and hide a giggle. Now was not the time for such things.

This was proven a moment later a the man brought his rifle up to his shoulder, pointing it at Makino. "NO one passes without paying the tax!"

Growling, Luffy hopped into the air quickly ascending to the same height as the gob-smacked man. He was wearing some kind of uniform in purple complete with some odd marking and a helmet, so was obviously a local soldier of some kind. But Luffy couldn't care less about that, and simply chopped down on the man's helmeted head once, sending him to the ground. "He sees our flags and assumes we're going to pay a toll? Come on! I mean, sure, if he knew us it'd be one thing, but he thinks pirates will be willing to pay some random…"

"Hey, you there!" shouted a voice, interrupting Luffy's monologue. He turned to see a very old man with a very odd backpack and helmet getup come stumbling up the short path that led to the watchtower.

"Best you slow down old-timer before that backpack of yours has you over the side," Luffy said, moving forward quickly and grabbing the old guy just as his prediction came true. "There, ya see. Now, what's got you running around with this much stuff on your back huh?" To Luffy/Ranma's eyes it looked like some kind of portable radar device. _Though that might just be the small radar dish sticking up over one shoulder, who knows?_

The old man huffed and puffed, but then got right into Luffy's face and shouted, "That ship, can I borrow that ship!?"

Blinking Ranma backed away, slightly so the old man wouldn't get spittle on his face. "Um, why don't ya come on down and talk to me and my crew old man. Then you only need to explain what you mean by that once."

The old man was apparently named Henzo. He was a scientist trying to figure out the Rainbow Mist, which had historically appeared in the area around Ruluka island several times, though only once before in his lifetime. He was ostensibly working for the mayor who the Straw Hats were here to 'investigate' but Makino and Nami could both tell there was something personal for the man.

"Robin? This Rainbow mist…" Chopper began, looking eagerly up at Robin, while Luffy's eyes narrowed. The reindeer man looked utterly gleeful, grinning and hugging his hat to himself.

Robin in turn didn't look any more excited than normal at first glance. But her eyes were shining, she was leaning forward on her the guardrail she was sitting on and her hands were tapping an eager rhythm on her knees. "So, the Rainbow Mist is real?"

Henzo blinked, looking at her and the others. "How do you know about it?"

Robin waved a hand and a series of hands appeared from her, stretching to the hatch into the interior of the ship. As Henzo gibbered in shock, Robin explained. "I read a series of adventures written by someone who attempted to explore the Rainbow Mist. It could be a treasure trove of information at the very least, of technology and riches at the most." _It might not help me find a clue to the Rio Poneglyph, but it will be fascinating at the very least._

"Technology?" Nami asked, looking over at Robin.

But it was Luffy who answered. "The Rainbow Mist apparently traps boats and crews within it from different times, and keeps them all in the same alternate dimension or something, where time doesn't really work the same as in the real world. Do I have that right?" he asked, looking at Robin.

Robin nodded. "Yes, that is what the books imply. The Explorer who wrote them tell of ships from long in the past in the same chapter where he talks of fanciful ships that 'looked almost as if they would be at home in the air or under the sea'. So at the very least the Rainbow Mist and it's alternate dimension, which is called Ape's Concert, have captured ships from the North Blue's most advanced islands. Or perhaps from the future entirely, it is hard to say."

"And how did you know about that Luffy?" Nami asked her eyes narrowed, that weird feeling she sometime felt when Robin and Luffy were around one another coming back to her as she glanced between them.

"Robin told me about the series she's been reading, and how she had us steal three of the five volumes from Alubarna's library," Luffy said with a laugh. "But even Cobra and his family didn't have a copy of the last book in the series."

Nami nodded, though she still felt miffed for some reason.

It was decided that the crew would dock the schooner at the wharf rather than out to sea, then head into town to Doctor Henzo's laboratory, where they would further discuss the idea of exploring the Rainbow Mist. The town was built into the island's bluff along a series of ever-rising roads set into the hill like a zigzag, with the mayor's house high up over it all. The houses were simple affairs, looking somewhat like Alabasta's, and the roads were decently paved. The mayor's house was separated by a wall and was a decent size, and it had a very weird, squat looking tower set to one side all on it's own.

Doctor Henzo's observation point was set up quite a ways away from the town to the left of the wharf, only connected to the town via a simple walk path at the second turning in the road. When he saw that, Luffy whistled a little. "How the heck did you get down from your observation point to the watchtower so quickly?"

Henzo looked a little embarrassed then gestured to his backpack. "This has a hang glider in it. I flew down halfway then ran the rest. Of course my landing wasn't anything to write home about," He muttered. "Going to have to make some adjustments to it, add strength and try to keep the lightness, perhaps something with aluminum?"

Makino shuddered at the very idea and Chopper shook his head, remembering his own experience with flying from Rain Dinners to the capital of Alabasta on Pell's back. The others however especially the three boys looked interested. "Not that they couldn't fly around, but Geppo was work even for Luffy. Hang gliding simply sounded like fun.

The pleasant thoughts about that and whether or not they should purchase some hang gliders and use them in the future were interrupted by a banging and clanging of some kind of band coming down the road towards them from higher up it's length. Makino winced a little shaking her head and Robin deadpanned "oh my, is there an elementary school function of some sort today? Who let the challenged children have the cymbals?"

The others laughed, but Luffy also noticed that a lot of the locals had quickly entered their houses while others moved to the side of the roads, looking down and away. "I think," he said slowly we're about to see in our second example of the local mayor and his tyranny."

"So we're going to start something soon?" Zoro asked eagerly.

"Yeah probably," Luffy replied.

Nami just growled a little, angry at once more looking to start a fight rather than avoid one.

But before she could speak up Luffy turned to her. "Nami, Makino, Chopper and Sanji disappear for a bit but don't forget to take a Den-Den Mushi. The four of you don't have wanted pictures, and I include you in that Sanji, yes. So let's not have you involved in anything with witnesses if we can avoid it."

Giving him a thumbs up Nami quickly disappeared down an alleyway between two houses, intending on skirting around the source of the noise which was coming toward them. Chopper, already in his normal reindeer body raced after her with Makino astride his back.

Behind them Sanji grinned, holding up his hands in a heart shape towards Luffy. "Nice grouping captain!" With that he raced off after Nami and Makino. "Wait for me ladies!"

The others waited while Robin looked down at Henzo. "Is there anything you wish to tell us?"

"Don't fight them!" Henzo said urgently. "You might've knocked out that guard, and have some very unusual powers, but you're no match for the mech-suits."

"That sounded like a challenge," Luffy said, while cataloging the term 'mech-suit', adding it to that marine captain had told them. One thing that had not changed from one life to the next however was that Ranma nee Luffy could not resist a challenge like that. He turned to Zoro holding up a fist. "Play rock paper scissors for it?"

"Hell no!" Zoro growled. "You got to fight both a Shichibukai and a vice admiral, and then my fight with that Marine Captain was interrupted! I get that this mayor and his top stooges at the least."

Luffy shrugged. "All right, I'll deal with the riffraff then I suppose."

By this time the noisemakers had come within sight and Luffy's prediction had been correct. They looked like a marching band mixed with an army, a very poorly trained band and an army that while armed didn't look all that tough. The banging of the cymbals was cacophonous rather than melodic and the troops had weapons, but certainly didn't carry them like they were expected trouble. That said there were over twenty of them. Only five or so were banging drums or cymbals, the others were armed with rifles and swords.

One man wasn't armed or holding an instrument. He strode ahead of the others, wearing a uniform that looked a little bit more elaborate than the others with gold piping on his shoulders and no helmet on his head. He had orange hair a little darker than Nami's and looked around Henzo's age, with a set of glasses perched on his nose.

Zoro, Robin, and Luffy stared at the group as they approached showing no fear anticipation or anything, simply looking on as if this was a play being put on for their benefit. It didn't take long for that look to do its work, and the officer in the lead marched straight up to them and looked them over. "Newcomers are you? I presume since your ship is docked you paid the entry tax, however there are others. First there is the landing tax, which is a thousand beli a head for every individual of your crew which has come ashore. Then there is the refurbishment tax, the wear and tear on the wharf needs to be repaired after every ship. That's an even two thousand per ship."

Then he paused and seemed to see Henzo for the first time. "Ah, but what do we have here! Doctor Henzo away from your observatory today?"

Henzo started to stammer, pointing at Luffy and the others. "Um, their crew and their ship is going to be instrumental in my progress from here on. They've already agreed to let me use it to investigate the oceans nearby you know I need more readings for my calculations to be accurate enough to aim the tower Philip-sama."

"That is true, but that doesn't mean that they are exempt from the taxes." The now-named man said haughtily.

Luffy shook his head. "You know, I've met a lot of officious assholes in my time, but most of them actually had eyes. Perhaps you should have noticed that our flag was that of a pirate crew?"

"He is wearing glasses," Robin said judiciously. "Perhaps he's farsighted?"

"I think it's those sideburns, They're squeezing his brain too much he can't think straight." Zoro supplied helpfully.

"Nice one!" Luffy said smacking Zoro on the shoulder. "We'll train you to be an expert in smack talk yet."

Hearing this exchange a few of the locals actually snickered while others looked terrified. But it was the snickers that Philip noticed, such men always noticed slights like that. "How dare you!? Men, arrest these tax evaders! Henzo you'll just have to do with their ship on its own."

Luffy took a single step forward, then launched from that one step into a leap past the man, lashing out to either side hurling the guards left and right. Behind him Robin quickly took a step to one side then crossed her arms slightly as hands appeared on half of the others. An instant later she squeezed her hands and sent them broken to the ground as her conjured hands obey Robin's command. She had concentrated on the ones that had their rifles on their shoulders primed and ready, figuring that they didn't want to cause any casualties from a stray musket ball.

For his part Zoro used Wado in its sheathe to smack Philip on the side of the head, sending him reeling. As Philip fell Zoro rushed forward to join Luffy in demolishing the rest. Within about 30 seconds, the entire column was dealt with.

Once the last man fell, Luffy made a point of reaching down and grabbing each instrument in turn. He then broke them before placing them back down next to their owners.

"I didn't know you were a music critic," Robin said archly, canceling her own powers and looking around distastefully at the scattered remains of… _What was this supposed to be, a patrol of some kind?_ She wondered internally. _A show of force for certain aimed at the locals and any visitors. I would have thought that here on the Grand Line small fish would have had more sense than to make noise enough to attract a Sea King._

"I'm not a critic but, but I know what I don't like!" Luffy said with a grin sent her way. "Hey you," he said to the nearest local, who was staring in a mixture of shock, fear and elation on his face at what had just occurred. "How long you figure until we get a response from the mayor because of this?"

"How, how am I supposed to know?!" the man squeaked and it was a squeak Luffy observed with amusement. "Nothing like this has ever happened before!"

Henzo however seemed to have come back on track a little after watching the crew in action. "The Mayor won't send out more troops after you. The mech-suits aren't very fast, and they require a bit of setup time as well. So they'll try to place themselves where you have to return to."

Luffy and Zoro exchanged a look. "The ship?"

Zoro nodded. "I'll head back there then. I still want an actual fight damn it, not a one sided beat down."

Luffy nodded, and watched as Zoro hopped into the air over the buildings grateful that he had and tried to take the road back. With his sense of direction, which had not yet been helped overmuch by Nami smasking navigation information into his head (at times literally), he might've just gotten lost despite the fact that this was a street which only had really two directions. But with the ship actually in sight, there was no way that was going to happen.

As Robin and Luffy turned to follow Henzo, he took out his Den-Den Mushi. "Sanji?"

"Here," the Den-Den Mushi responded, already shifting into a facsimile of Sanji's head, the chef's coif slowly growing out of the snail's head. "That was quick."

"Taking out the trash should never be a lengthy process," Robin drolly replied for Luffy causing Sanji to swoon, and Nami to laugh in the background. Chopper too laughed, his somewhat high voice noticeable and Luffy could almost picture Makino shaking her head in amused despair at their attitudes.

But when he spoke next, Luffy was a little more serious. "I'd like you three to stay hidden as long as possible, but if any of you want to join us when we get to Henzo's observation lab, you can do that. You all have money?"

When Sanji answered in the affirmative, Luffy ordered him to buy enough supplies to refill the ship entirely. They didn't know how long it would take them to get to the next island after all.

"Speaking of which," Luffy said as he finished speaking to Nami, relaying her question to Henzo. "How long does it take the Log Pose to set here?"

"Two days," Henzo said promptly. "We're not often locked on from Alabasta, but Ruluka acts as if it was a stopover point along the normal route."

"So stopping here isn't going to set us on an entirely different route or force us to go back to Alabasta and try again?" Luffy asked.

"No. You can only find this Island if you're on one of the two routes that pass through Alabasta. It has no connection to the other one whatsoever and indeed even on that route LogPposes only rarely lock onto Ruluka at all."

Luffy nodded then a thought occurred to him. "Actually Sanji, I've got one more request. See if you can find three or four cameras. We might need them if we actually succeed in entering the Rainbow Mist as we're hoping to."

While Sanji simply answered in the affirmative Robin smiled appreciatively at that, leaning in to whisper, "You truly are much more intelligent than you sometimes let on Luffy."

"Is that a problem?" Luffy asked, honestly curious.

"No, that simply make you more fascinating as an individual," _and as a mystery._ Robin added silently.

That caused Luffy to blush slightly. "Yes, well, it takes one to know one Robin," he said before turning away, gesturing Henzo to start walking once more. He did so, while Robin and Luffy followed.

About 30 minutes later, the three of them entered Henzo's lab which was built around a heavy staircase made of steel heading further upwards to what looked like a telescope of some kind. It was one of the most advanced things that Luffy had seen in this world, reminding him of some of the telescopes back in his old life. Robin also looked interested as they entered, and from the way she had fallen silent, Luffy knew she had summoned up a few eyeballs up above them to look at the telescope.

"What was this was calculation you were talking about?" Luffy asked.

"It's a calculation I've tried to create to figure out when and where the Rainbow Mist will arrive. That's why I needed these books you see," he said, taking them gratefully from Robin, and flipping them through them one after another. At intervals he found several pages and jotted down notes so fast that his hand almost blurred. "I think I've figured out where precisely in the oceans around the island it would appear, but how long it takes to appear has eluded me. With these, I can find that out!"

"That sounds good and all," Luffy said leaning against the wall, "but what's to stop us from getting trapped on the other side? I like the idea of exploring this Ape's concert, but not at the expense of getting trapped there."

Henzo remained silent for a moment, working on the calculations. Then he paused, staring at the result. "That, that can't be right, such a coincidence beggars belief…" he muttered under his breath.

This forced Luffy to repeat himself, which he did, causing Henzo to wince, looking away from the books and the pirates both. "…That is one thing that the mayor and I have been working on. The copy of the last Rainbow Mist book in the series we have here stated that the connection between Ape's concert and this world could be kept open for a time if something material from this world lay across the event horizon of the mist. So I designed a sort of tower that could be stretched out into the Mist."

Luffy exchanged a glance with Robin, and then Makino, who had joined them outside. She had wanted to talk to Luffy about some supplies the locals seemed to have in abundance which had said he needed for work on the showers. "And how much has that actually cost?" As the ship's bursar and a former bar owner Makino knew what building even a single house cost, let alone something like what Henzo was describing.

"Everything," Henzo muttered. "The mayor has sucked this town dry to pay for it, sucked every ship that's come here dry, spent practically on it and on a few other things."

"A few other things you helped him with?" Makino interjected, having watching Henzo closely as he spoke and seen the guilt there. "Those next suits you mentioned perhaps?"

Henzo sighed and nodded. "it was the price I had to pay," he said simply, looking down at the books laid out on his work desk.

"And why, exactly, were you willing to pay it in the first place?" Robin asked. "You're not doing this just for science's sake."

"The mayor is interested in the riches that could be found in Ape's concert." Henzo looked up at the pirate fiercely. "I just want to find my friends!"

OOOOOOO

Zoro alighted down on the ship, then lay out on the ship side of the gangplank, his swords on the deck beside him as he closed his eyes. _Might as well take a nap while I'm waiting for trouble._ He was not woken up by the noises of the new arrivals forty minutes later, though anyone else would have been given the clamor they were making.

"Put the barrels over there, the wharf is thin so if it's behind me, I don't have to worry about it, and that pirate will have to get through me to get to it," ordered a sharp voice.

The speaker was younger than the man that Zoro had knocked out earlier, but had the same general appearance, same dark orange hair, same sideburns and a similar looking face. He was obviously a family member possibly even the first man's son.

Currently he was wearing what could only be described as a mech-suit. It had stumpy metal legs leading up to a metal plate over his chest, with servos connecting it to robotic hands. Each hand ended in weapons of some kind. One of them was a nozzle, the other a forked device of some kind.

Behind the man stood two other men on either side of a seesaw contraption which was in turn connected to a pair of heavy looking bellows. As they began to work it, the suit seemed to come alive, the man within now stepping forward now much more easily than he had been a moment before. The weapons too came online, the fork beginning to spark electrical energies between its two tines, while on the other a small pilot light came on in the barrel.

"Right! You men," he said gesturing to several other men who were standing behind his helpers, "Get ready. Once I deal with that swordsman, we'll loot the ship to the ground then burn it where it floats."

Zoro it had still not woken up, and the man scoffed a little. "Dammit, and I wanted to see his face when he saw the mech-suit for the first time. Oh well." With a faint sigh of dissatisfaction, the man raised his flame thrower, and pointed it at Zoro. An instant later it roared to life, flinging a fireball towards where Zoro was sleeping in front of the gangplank.

Between one second in the next Zoro's eyes popped open, and he rolled sideways down the gangplank, one of his swords flashing out. Ittoryu I-ai, Flashing Phoenix!" A second later the fireball dissipated into two different pieces in front of him, the flames snuffed out by his attack, a super condensed air pressure attack which exploded upon impact.

Standing upright, Zoro sheathed Wado, and pulled out his other two swords feeling the bloodlust of Sandai Kitetsu, and the calm almost detached feeling of Yubashiri. They balanced one another out very well, which was why he routinely used both of them when two swords were called for, and the more harmonious deeper and more powerful spirit of Wado Ichimonji when a single blade was called for.

"And who are you supposed to be?" drawled the first mate of the Straw Hat pirate crew.

"I'm Lake! Your crew attacked our tax enforcers and my father Philip! For that your lives are forfeit and your ship too!" Lake shouted. "Surrender, pay the tolls and my grandfather might be lenient."

"How about no?" Zoro said, pulling out his bandanna and tying it around his hair for a moment then placing Wado in his mouth crouching down. "I've been getting antsy lately, nine whole days without a good fight outside of sparring. I hope you can at least entertain me a little."

Richard didn't respond verbally, simply pointing his electrical arc at the swordsman and charging forward. "Electric spark!"

Zoro lashed out wincing as his sword connected with the electrical prod, the metal of his Sandai conveying the electrical current to him easily. However he twisted the blow to the die, twisting inside the Lake's reach, flashing Yubashiri towards his chest.

Hopping backwards Richard avoided it, trying to bring up his flamethrower. But the moment the flamethrower created a fireball it was cut in two buy another pass from Wado, Zoro's head moving to the side violently enough to send a thin air attack at the ball of fire, impacting and imploding it in midair.

Behind Lake his men opened fire, causing Zoro to still himself for a moment "Tekkai." Like this the musket balls hit, but did no damage. However his moment of stillness allowed Richard to regain his balance and thrust forward with the electrical prod.

It slammed into Zoro's chest, and there was the smell of singeing skin for a moment, thousands of volts electrocuting Zoro. But he twisted backwards, deactivating the Tekkai which had done its purpose protecting him even from that to a certain degree. He'd feel it in the morning, and his body was already starting to spasm from aftershocks but he was still in full control.

"Flying Hawk!" He shouted, lashing out with a low powered air attack towards the men with the muskets as they were trying to reload. The attack slammed into the column, sending them all scattering in every direction. At the same time Zoro twisted away from another attack from the electrical prod, hopping up and landing on top of the flamethrower arm. One sword stabbed down, slamming through the flamethrower and down onto the wharf, pinning it there as his other sword came around in a simple slash.

Richard saw his life flashing before his eyes as that blade came for him, and he quickly pulled himself out of the suit and rolling backwards. The suit's faceplate was sliced clear through, removing the head cavity from it entirely, and Zoro then pulled the sword he had used on the flamethrower out, hopping up and over the ruined suit to land in front of Richard, holding out Yubashiri to the younger man's throat. "You still want to go?" Zoro asked.

He was interrupted however as shouts of shock arose from a few of the soldiers and several other passerby. But their shock had nothing to do with Zoro's victory. They had been shocked of it by of course, but at the moment a greater surprise had overtaken them. Because out in the middle of the cove, had appeared a pink and purple mist where nothing had been a moment ago. As Zoro turned and stared, the mist slowly spread, not even noticing Lake skidding backwards on his read before he turned and raced off.

 **OOOOOOO**

"…I cannot believe it! My predictions, it's true. I don't know if this is luck or divine providence," Henzo whispered, staring at the mist with hungry eyes. Which was something the pirates could understand, having just heard about what had happened to Henzo's friends when they were all younger.

Robin and Makino both turned to Luffy staring at him intently, the older woman shaking her head as they both remembered how they had found Drum Island in time to save Vivi. "You have either the strangest kind of luck, or…"

"Or I'm Fate's Bitch, and she likes to throw good things and bad things my way equally," Luffy said equably. "Where is this tower of yours?" he asked, turning back to Henzo.

"Behind the mayor's palace, they should already be starting the process of enlarging it extruding it…"

The group turend away from looking at the mist to stare up towards the mayors house, where they could indeed see something large tower made of concrete beginning to shoot up into the sky further from the rest the mansion.

"I wondered about that," Makino said with a nod, sharing a glance with Robin. "It certainly didn't match the rest of the house's architecture."

Henzo however ignored them racing away down the hill as a massive ship appeared out of the mist, floating away on the tides.

"Where's he going?" Luffy asked.

"He seems to be making for our ship." Robbin supplied helpfully, watching as Henzo hurled himself off the edge of the hill, his hang glider coming out of his pack a second later.

Groaning, Sanji pulled out the Den-Den Mushi. "Sanji, where are you?"

"Just finished the shopping captain," Sanji replied. "We made a few stopovers because Nami-swan wanted to see what they had in terms of local fashion, but we're heading back to the ship now."

"Good, we'll meet you there." Luffy turned to Robin and Makino, pulling Robin into his arms before turning to let Makino onto his back. Going by experience he hoped carrying them this way would be less distracting than if Robin was on his back. It sort of failed as Robin pressed her chest against his, as she held on, but Luffy was able to ignore it for the time it took them to pass Henzo in midair and land on the deck of the _Resolve_.

Luffy and the others found Zoro standing over the remains of another of the local patrols just as a man rabbited away down the wharf. He looked so much like the first officer they'd dealt with that Luffy shook his head. "What, do they clone themselves now?"

"Some traits seem to be more hereditary than others," Henzo replied, ignoring the running man as he landed next to the three pirates. He quickly began to pull up the anchor, ignoring the others as they followed him.

"This is my ship Henzo!" Luffy said firmly, laying a hand on his shoulder and holding him still. "we don't move unless I order it."

Henzo grimaced, but nodded. He had honestly hoped to simply steal the ship, but the others had hurried after him so quickly he hadn't had the opportunity. And he had completely left Zoro out of his equations.

Luffy nodded too turning away. "Robin, Makino, keep him from moving the ship if he tries, we're waiting for the others before we move on. Zoro, help me with that suit. I want it stored in our hold."

"Why?" Zoro asked. "It looks cool I'll grant you, but it's not that good. And while you might be a decent wood worker but you've never said you'd able to do anything like this."

"Wouldn't even know where to start," Luffy said cheerfully. "Doesn't mean it can't be useful somewhere down the line though. Maybe we can find someone to add to the crew to be our armorer or something."

"What about them?" Zoro asked, gesturing to his former opponents, who wre now scrambling away down the wharf after their leader. "Won't they tell this mayor that we've taken care of another group of his bully boys?"

"And?" Luffy asked blankly. "Why should that matter at all?"

Zoro laughed, while Makino rolled her eyes. Robin however Had her mind on something more serious. "Are you certain that once that tower collapses into the Rainbow Mist it will allow us to escape after we enter it?"

"My calculations on that are not nearly as specific as my calculations on place and now time," Henzo said prevaricating until Robin's eyes narrowed. "…It should work, but I don't know. No one ever attempted to connect Ape's Concert to the real world deliberately before."

With Luffy carrying the suit, and Zoro carrying the power apparatus, they were able to get it onboard and stowed by the time Sanji and the others arrived. All the while they heard the sound of clanking from up near the mayor's mansion as the tower continued to extrude itself from its underground bunker.

"Why are we in such a hurry?" Nami grumbled, irritated they'd had to leave the shops behind since a lot of the clothing here were of very good quality. "Could we just wait for the mayor and his people to do the work for us? They're after all the riches of this Ape's Concert place I mean. It would be easier to steal from them than to go searching for it on our own."

"Nami, we're not interested in riches anymore," Luffy said. "We're interested in knowledge on this trip. Besides, we've got a whole lot of treasure already. You can search for choice items I suppose once we get in there, but only with Sanji with you just in case."

"I'm always interested in riches!" Nami growled back but nodded as Luffy said she could still search out some choice bits for herself. _After all if I do that what I find will eblong to me, rather than the crew. That will be a big help on my next shopping trip._

Moments later the schooner pulled up alongside the large galleon, which showed some signs of combat. Henzo said the ship had been Whetton's original pirate ship years ago when he first arrived on the island, which was so long ago only Henzo, Whetton and his son were still alive from that time. But to the doctor's despair, there was no sign of his friends. That meant they had to enter the Rainbow Mist in earnest.

Entering the mists was kind of creepy in Luffy's opinion. One moment the sky was bright blue over them, then the next they were heading into a fog bank so thick they couldn't see a foot ahead of their faces, let alone where the ship was going. On Luffy's orders they slowed down despite Henzo's protests and Luffy stood on the prow, taking soundings as they went. This slowed them down considerably, but eventually they were through the mist and into… someplace else.

There was no stars here, no sun no clouds. No sky at all, simply endless black above them. on the edge of their line of sight there was blackness, a blackness of shadow and smog. And right ahead of them was a massive car crash of mangled ships. Ancient barques brigs and galleons, sailing ships of all types, ages and sizes including many that looked futuristic to the Straw Hat's eyes. They were all mangled together, brought here somehow by the Rainbow Mist and clumped together by the odd tides of this place.

 _This looks like what I'd imagine the inside of my ki space would be_ Luffy thought frowning. "I wonder what sustains it then…" he muttered to himself as he tried to follow that analogy.

Nami looked at him quizzically, and Luffy shook his head. Just an errant thought."

"You have any other kind?" Nami asked, smacking him with her hip as she walked away.

Luffy rolled his eyes, but turned to Makino at the wheel. "Keep us on this course for another minute, then slowly turn us around, we'll anchor just clear of those wrecks."

The racks in question spread as far as they could see here, which wasn't nearly as far as they would have been able to see normally. There were about uncounted hulks smashed together here there, creating an awful artificial island almost, though there were patches of ocean here and there close enough for this schooner to get and anchor without actually hitting anything else.

The moment they came to a stop however, Henzo and everyone else's attention was grabbed by something else. " **Leave this place**!" shouted a sepulchral voice. " **Leave this place or die**!"

Luffy strode forward crossing his arms. "I'd like to see you say that to her face whoever you are! I don't take orders from disembodied voices. I'm not **that** crazy."

His crew laughed, then gasped as a crossbow bolt came out of nowhere from the wreckage to one side. Nami, who it had been aimed at, swiftly dodged to one side her hand coming up and smacking it away easily. Several more followed in quick succession, but the crew dodge, or in Luffy and Zoro's cases caught them easily. "Is that it?" Luffy asked lazily.

"Go from this place!" Said the voice again, though it's listeners could now detected a slight sign of worry there, shown even more clearly as he went on. "Go away, or you'll run into more than you can handle!"

Shaking his head Luffy turned to Robin. "Robin?"

Robin had already crossed her arms, conjuring up hundreds of eyes in every direction, then smiling she did the same with her hands. There was a series of squawks and shouts of horror, which oddly sounded as if they were coming from very throats to Luffy and his crew. Then a moment later, Robin's conjured hands pulled several young people who had been hiding in the nearest wreck into view.

There were six of them, five boys and one girl, all of whom looked like normal kids for the most part. The girl had long light purple hair, but that and her lack of adam's apple were the only things that made her stand out from the rest until Luffy and Sanji had gone to retrieve them, dumping them all onto the deck of the ship still 'tied up' by Robin's conjured hands, which quickly disappeared as they landed.

Staring at the six children Henzo's eyes began to glitter with unshed tears, one hand rising to his mouth.

"You, you damn pirates!" A somewhat taller, more rangy boy shouted, get to his feet and pulling out a wicked looking dagger from under his shirt, standing between his friends and the pirates.

Now that they were close enough, that kid looked oddly familiar to Luffy Zoro and Sanji, and they exchanged a glance. "Hey kid," Luffy said, pointing. Do you have father or grandfather in the Marines?"

The kid actually paused at that question, staring up at them. "I've never even known my grandfather! I had a father in the Marines though." At that he seemed to shake himself brandishing the knife racing towards them. "You'll never take us alive!"

Henzo however stepped forward, staring at the boy then at the others, tears now flowing down his face. "How, how is this possible! Rapanui, Isoka, Rongo, Akibi, Pukau, how, how are you…"

"How o you know our names," the girl asked, looking first at the old man then the pirates, relaxing noticeably as she looked at Makino and the other two women, who smiled back at her and the kids. The other four boys also relaxed at the sight too, and one of them even reached out to grab the charging boy's shoulder.

He in turn glared at Henzo as the old doctor replied. "I, look, look at me Rapanui, it's me, Henzo!"

The so-named Rapanui stared up at Henzo then backed away rapidly as the youngest boy there shook his head. "No way, Henzo was our age! He's just got the same name."

"R, right, this is a trick of these dirty pirates, there's no way!" Rapanui bellowed, wrenching himself free.

Makino stepped around Henzo quickly and reached down like a viper quick, grabbing Rapanui's arm in one hand before plucking the knife out with her other hand. "Young boys shouldn't go around threatening people with such things unless they know how to use them," she said kindly, tossing the dagger over the side. "Now, can we all sit down and discuss this like rational people, or do you a spanking first?"

"And I resent the dirty pirate label!" Luffy said smirking. "We're all quite clean you know."

Chopper nodded. "Being clean is important for preventing diseases."

"EEHH! The tanuki talked!" more than one of the kids shouted.

"I'm not a tanuki! Can't you see my horns!" Chopper roared, pointing at his horns.

"That's even weirder!" shouted the same boy, but he was quickly silenced by Isoak putting a hand over his mouth.

"Yeesh, read the atmosphere you shits," Sanji muttered, nodding kindly at the girl who smiled back hesitantly. They all watched as Henzo moved around Makino, going down to one knee in front of the kids still sobbing.

"Time passes differently in Ape's concert," Robin said sighing as the moment of levity disappeared in an instant. "I suppose we should have expected this."

Eventually the kids and Henzo calmed down enough to actually talk about what they had experienced since that night long ago. At the same time and in order to help them all calm down further Sanji brought out some food for them, which the kids all devoured greedily.

Once their reunion was over, Luffy got down to business. "So, what can you to tell me about this place?"

Though still suspicious Rapanui answered readily enough. "Well for one thing, there is no one else alive in here but us. That's been the case since we arrived."

"Except for the prisoner," one of the other boys, an equally rangy kid named Rongo interjected. "He's a former Whetton pirate we captured when we stole Whetton's ship. We keep him in the hold of the ship we moved to after we put out the fire on Whetton's."

"How long it to you has it been since you entered here? From your perspective I mean?" Robin asked.

"Who can say?" Rapanui snorted. "We have no way of telling time. There's no clocks here, none that work anyway, no sun, no stars. I think we've only been here for a month at most. We've set up a lot of traps, but we were still trying to set up heavier ones when you arrived."

"So a month in here and how many years outside? 80?" Luffy asked looking over at Henzo. "You better be right about that door staying open once that tower of yours collapses into Rainbow Mist. If we become Rip van Winkle, I'm going to hurt you."

Robin's eyebrows twitched again and she put another tally against the number of mysteries surrounding Luffy. That was a name of a book she had read in the Tree of Knowledge and had never seen it since. But at present, her main interest lay in the ships around them. "Have you done any exploring beyond setting up those traps of yours?"

"Some," said Isoka, who had gravitated towards the trio of women and was actually sitting in front of Makino now, letting the older woman start to comb her hair while Nami sat nearby. It was evident that despite being a bit of a tomboy she had somewhat missed the company of other girls. "For one thing, no matter which direction you go, you'll always come back here. It's about 15 miles across or so, all of it junk like this. There's also a Sea king around,

"We saw it," the crew replied drolly, staring over at Zoro.

He smirked, touching one of his swords, which he had used to cut the Sea king the instant it had reared up out of the mists. The thing had died so quickly it barely registered to them as they saild one.. "What, the fight with that Lake guy was boring, I had to do something to get some exercise."

"Hmmm, I can see wrecks from dozens of different eras here," Robin mused. "And I don't think you've been looking for books or anything like that have you?" She didn't want to saw things like weapons aloud. Rapanui at least was still very leery of them and there was no need to foster further wariness.

"No, why would we?" Rapanui replied blankly. "We found a lot of treasure of course, but again what would we need it for here?"

"Treasure!" Nami said, suddenly getting in the boy's face, her eyes having become beli signs, twinkling so brightly the kids backed away, holding their hands up in front of thier eyes to shield them from the light.

Shaking his head Luffy looked over at Sanji. "Did you pick up those cameras I asked about?"

Sanji nodded, and went to fetch one of the sacks that he, Chopper and Nami had come back to the ship with. He handed large, ungainly cameras, the only ones available on Ruluka, out to the others. They were the best they could do, and even if they only took a few pictures of some of the more advanced ships it might well be worth the effort.

Luffy did the same with some Den-Den Mushis. "Zoro, since you're so eager to have a fight, you and Makino stay on the ship with the kids and Henzo. Sanji, Nami, you can go searching for treasure if you like. Robin? Chopper?"

The two of them looked at one another, then Robin replied. "I believe we could handle ourselve once we are over on the wrecks."

"What exactly are we going to be looking for besides books and medical equipment?" Chopper asked, holding the camera in his small hooves. He would change into his Heavy Point once someone else had brought him over to the wrecks.

"Anything that looks high-tech," Luffy said hesitantly, looking quickly at the kids then away going on more strongly. "Take a lot of pictures of anything you find that looks unusual at the very least. Any maps, journals, or anything with writing on it, along with books and medical equipment for Chopper. Call me over once you have too much to carry, and I'll stuff it into my ki space."

"We'll make an archaeologist of you yet," Robin said approvingly, deliberately using the same words that Luffy had used to Zoro earlier that day only changing the subject.

Luffy mock growled at her, and she laughed a bright clear sound before turning away moving towards the ship's railing, hopping up onto it. A second later, she conjured up a rope of sorts made of arms coming out from the nearest ship to take her own and pulling her across the divide.

"Robin-san that was so cool!" Chopper exclaimed.

"Bah she didn't do the yodel, zero points." Zoro muttered

Sanji kicked him hard in the side. "How dare you give Robin-chan zero's points! That was at least a nine and a half!"

"You're obviously biased ero-cook!" Zoro growled, getting to his feet quickly. "And do you want to go!?"

"Enough!" Luffy said he moved over to Nami and hefted her into his arms. "What ship do you want to target first?"

Nami pointed to a large brig in the distance and Luffy nodded, hopping up into the air to the shock of the kids. Their shock grew as Sanji quickly followed. "Oy shitty captain that's supposed to be my job!"

"Snooze you loose Sanji!" Luffy replied with a laugh, before setting Nami down. He nodded to her, then hopped back into the air and began to move around the area, taking pictures of anything that looked interesting time.

What followed was several of what felt like hours of searching from one end of the Rainbow Mister to the other, not for treasure or anything specific, but just general searching. Chopper searched each wreck in turn, coming away with only a few medical books, but quite a bit of equipment he was practically gushing over. He had to call Luffy over to him several times, and once Zoro moved to help him lug up something Chopper called an artificial heart pump out of the ship he had found it in.

Luffy for his part spent most of his time exploring a ship that looked like the Nautilus. He hadn't really much liked the plot of the book it had appeared in when he had been forced to read it in English class at Furinkan but when he saw the movie, the ship itself had looked damn awesome.

Looking around Luffy got a lot of ideas for their own future permanent ship, along with some changes he could make to the _Resolve_ possibly in the future, though that was doubtful. _Making it able to go into the water is beyond my skills, but it would still be cool to try._

During her own searches Robin found dozens of books, over half of them written in languages she had never run into before. "Truly fascinating!" She said, coming back to the ship and dropping her gains down on the ground, smiling at the kids and Henzo. Sanji had left food behind them all, and the kids seemed willing enough to simply wait there and talk to Henzo, eating real cooked food for the first time in weeks. _It must be a surreal experience for Henzo-san, after all it's been so long for him, and only a few short weeks to them._

Nami and Sanji explored together, finding a lot of jewelry even though Nami slowly became irritated at Sanji's over the top flirting. They didn't take any money, since most of the money they found wasn't actually in currency they recognized. And they didn't take any gold either, being too heavy. But the jewels and worked trinkets were a different story. Eventually however the two of them made their way to the temporary headquarters of the former Pumpkinhead Pirates turned junior Marines according to Rapanui, where they discover the prisoner the kids had talked about.

"Who the heck are you!? What's going on out there?" The man's shouted as soon as he saw two adults rather than the kids. Then he paused, staring at Nami. "Mmm, damn girl! How about you let me out of here, I'll show you a real good time."

Sanji glared at the man. "That is no way to address a lady!" He kicked out, his foot smashing into the jail cell's door and rocketing it off it's hinges and back into the man, carrying him into the wall behind him and knocking him unconscious. He then turned bowing grandly towards Nami. "I have defended your honor Nami-Chawn, aren't you happy!"

"Thank you Sanji-kun," Nami replied dryly. "Now pick him up and let's go. I don't think we want to leave even him behind in the Mist when we leave."

Just then there was a violent crash in the distance and the two of them quickly turned around, Nami grabbing up one of the bags of jewels while Sanji grabbed the prisoner and hefted them onto his shoulder. While grabbing up two more jewelry bags they had been gathering. "Sanji if you drop those bags I will drop you!" Nami shouted racing out of the hold.

"Of course Nami-swan!" Sanji bellowed, following her out of the ship.

Moments before the two treasure hunters heard the crash Robin had joined Luffy on the Nautilus-like ship, searching for books and specifically journals of any sort. "Does anything stand out to you Luffy?" she asked, not looking up from the large library she was perusing as Luffy came in behind her. The room must have been the captain's quarters given its size, but her search for a journal had come up empty.

"I've taken a lot of pictures, don't think I can make heads or tails how the ship actually moved without sails or rigging though," Luffy said ruefully, lying somewhat. It looked something like a coal burner, which he had seen in a book about early trains at one point but that was about all Luffy could tell. For all his skill in martial arts construction Ranma had never been an engineer, and had never picked up the art in this lifetime either.

"Is there still room in your ki space?" Robin asked. "Some of these books are utterly fascinating, though at least half are on engineering matters that go well over my head."

"Sure, I just came back from a run back to the ship," he said moving over to join her. Neither noticed how close they stood at first their sides brushing against one another. "What books are you thinking of taking here?"

"All of them?" Robin asked, turning to her companion and only now noticing how close they stood. She didn't back away however, instead reaching forward to gently touch Luffy's chest with her hand, feeling the muscles under his shirt. Luffy looked down at her hand, but made no move to move backward or remove Robin's hand from his chest. "All of this is just fascinating to me, and I want to take all of them if I can, particularly from this ship."

Their conversation was interrupted by a crashing noise in the distance. Luffy turned quickly. "Come on! I think that's probably the tower thing arriving."

The noise was indeed Whetton's tower arriving. It was a large edifice, large enough to eat a sloop, laying now across the water, being held there by thick pontoons, almost as wide as the tower itself. Seeing it arrive, Makino could only shake her head in amazement, thinking of all the work that had gone into its construction. Then she remembered that building it had been the chief task for the entire island for over eighty years now. That put the work of building the thing in perspective, though the design of it was still worthy of admiration and she looked over at Henzo with respect.

As she and Zoro stood with the kids on the aft end of the ship, the tower stopped growing into Ape's concert, the loud clanging and banging the others had heard ceasing as the final protrusion pushed out from it's fellows. Then the end of the tower, now acting like a covered bridge or tunnel, opened up. Inside was a ramp and some kind of belt system to one side. Several small craft were lined up there and raced out as a ramp fall into the water. It looked like some kind of fan was driving them forward, with two men working pedals at the front and to other men standing behind them armed with rifles.

The men with rifles quickly took the people around the _Resolve_ under fire, and Makino hurled herself sideways to take the kids down, covering them with her own body. Rapanui wound up with his face pressed into Makino's chest, and blushed hotly, trying to squirm away, but Makino kept herself on top of him and two of the others, while Henzo did the same for the other three.

Zoro on the other hand hadn't moved, activating his Tekkai and simply taking the bullets that hit him. As the fusillade ended He canceled the technique and moved, hopping from the aft deck of the Resolve onto the nearest small boat, his swords lashing out to either side. The two boats he targeted were cut in two, while the one he landed on rocked but remained relatively still.

He was then forced to dodge back however as a blast of fire roared through his previous position. The men on the raft he had been standing on dove into the sea in a desperate attempt to escape the fireball. But one of them couldn't move fast enough and screamed as he and the craft were immolated.

Landing back on the _Resolve_ 's guardrail Zoro looked in that direction, a vicious scowl on his face. There in the entrance to the concrete tunnel stood three mech suits like the one Zoro had dealt with in town. The man he'd tangled with was in one of them, one which looked almost unfinished having no weapons but large metal hands and he looked rather horrified at the moment, staring at the middle-most suit.

That suit was somewhat larger than the one Lake had worn in their earlier battle. It had heavier, more built up legs with iron struts visible along the sides of the rubber suit to provide strength, and had a third, completely metallic leg sticking stick out the back. The arms in turn looked somewhat lighter, or at least thinner, and both of them ended in the flamethrower apertures that Lake had on one of his hands in their earlier fight.

Inside that suit was an old man, older by far than even Philip but with the same general look. _That asshole must be the pirate turned mayor Whetton. And he just killed one of his own men._

On the other side of Whetton from Lake stood Philip in another suit, which like Lake's looked almost unfinished, having no plastic plate to cover it's face. It had twin electric prods rather than a mix of flamethrower and prod. And Philip, unlike his son, didn't look horrified at his own father's act, instead pointing at Zoro angrily. "That's one of the people who attacked me Father! The others might be around here too!"

"Bah, who cares about that, they're in our way now, and whoever is getting in our way needs to be taken care of!" Whetton shouted. "You lot, keep searching for his accomplices, I'm going to burn that ship to ash!"

Lake might have made an objection, but it went unheard as Whetton's troops responded with a roar and he fired another fireball at the _Resolve_. Over the roar of the fireball, Zoro couldn't hear anything but the roar of the fire and one of the kids shouting incredulously, "That's Whetton?! But he's so old!" Evidently the fact people had aged so much hadn't sunk in despite Henzo's presence.

Before Zoro could do anything about the fireball his captain and the others came out of the wrecks they had been exploring and joined the fight. Leaping into the air Luffy intercepted the fireball with several Rankyaku, causing it to explode in midair. Then he turned his attention on the small ships scuttling around the Resolve and deeper into Ape's concert. "The leaders're still yours Zoro if ya still want them! I'll take care of the riffraff!"

Before he could however, Sanji was there, lashing out with his own Rankyaku. Several others fell to Makino's accurate fire from sher she was now kneeling behind the guardrail, and Robin's conjured 'clutch' attack. Luffy huffed, pushing up on his straw hat as he turned a pout on Robin. "Spoil all my fun why don't you."

"As if this group would be any challenge," Robin teased.

She then nearly squawked as Luffy deliberately bumped her with his hip, nearly knocking her off their perch on the drill-like structure at the prow of the advanced ship they had been exploring. She turned a glare at him, But Luffy was already away leaping into the air with a cackle as he continued the attack on the troopers.

Back in the main battle Zoro had launched himself through the air towards the three mech suits, closing the distance before Whetton's suit could launch another fireball. "Tatsu Maki!" He shouted, creating his own mini tornado attack hurling all three suits around. The attack sliced deeply into the unfinished pair of mech suits, though Whetton's suit blunted the attack, only stumbling back. Lake's suit toppled to the side the chest piece carved open in several places and the stabilizing legs also cut though he had dodged just far back enough to avoid being cut in turn. Philip's had fared worse, his suit being sliced in several places and one of his arms bleeding from a cut that had nearly removed it from the shoulder.

Whetton tried to bring his weapons down to fire pointblank at Zoro but Zoro dodged inside his reach, trying to get behind the unit before it could do anything. However Whetton turned the unit around, blocking the blow with one of his flamethrower arms and aiming the other one not at Zoro, but at something beyond Zoro's shoulder, which turned out to be the flamethrower's fuel tanks, which were situated along one side of the tunnel. Whetton had obviously intended to cause an explosion which would take Zoro out from behind.

The explosion rocked Zoro forward, but he rolled with it even as the explosion started to spread up the moving belt thing that was set to one side of the tunnel. Even as he rolled on the ground of the tunnel Zoro heard more explosions in the distance.

This time Whetton couldn't turn fast enough to protect himself from Zoro's attack. Yubashiri flashed backward, smashing into the unprotected back of Whetton's head, and he slumped forward, kept upright only by his suit.

Turning, Zoro cocked an eyebrow at Lake, who had pulled himself out from under his suit. Zoro noted his mech suit had taken further damage from the explosion, but Lake appeared fine, if rather soot covered. "You still want to fight?"

Lake shook his head quickly, moving over to Philip and trying to bandage his father's wounds as best he could, not saying a word.

Staring at this through the bars of the guardrail Rapanui could only shake his head. "That… that was Whetton? The, the man who conquered our island, who terrorized the oceans around Ruluka for so long? And that swordsman, he took him and those suit things out making it look almost easy!"

"Even legends grow old, and while Whetton might have been dangerous, he certainly was no legend." Makino said from nearby, standing up straight now.

By this point she Robin, Sanji and Luffy had dealt with the scattered groups of the mayor's enforcers. From where she stood she could see Robin conjuring hands to tie the troopers up, while Luffy began to pile them in the entrance to the concrete tunnel. Sanji on the other hand had picked up Nami and was making their way toward the _Resolve_. Even from here she could tell his eyes had changed into hearts, and she wondered once more how he did that.

"Well that was anticlimactic," Luffy said, landing beside Zoro one more time dropping off Chopper who hurried over to Philip. Of their enemies he was the one who had taken the most severe wounds.

Before Zoro could reply there was a sudden shudder in the air all around them, the Mist enclosing Ape's concert suddenly beginning to lighten, as if it was dissipating. He stared at his captain and then both of them turned away from the prisoners, grabbing Chopper and leaping into the air, hopping there via Geppo for a moment.

"I think we've outstayed our welcome!" Luffy shouted at the top of his lungs while Zoro hopped back toward the Resolve with Chopper in his arms. "Everybody back to the ship! It's time we left."

Henzo shook his head violently from where he had been standing by the wheel with Rapanui and the others. "No! That can't be, the tower should have, wait, yes! That's it! The explosions, that is somehow impact the physical nature of the Mist, and without that, the dimensional gate is starting to collapse too. But why would a purely material reaction effect it like that?"

"Who knows? Who cares?" Luffy asked rhetorically as he alighted down on the guardrail beside them. "I don't want to spend 80 plus years stuck here, so we are moving people!"

From there Luffy, Sanji, Chopper and Zoro quickly began to use long poles to row the ship forward and back out of the Mist, happy they had turned the ship around after anchoring. It was slow going since there was no wind to help them, but the four of them were strong enough hto make progress.

As they passed by the entrance to the tunnel, they saw that Lake had taken charge there. With Robin having canceled the arms which had been holding them, the prisoners were free to make their own escape.. Under his orders Whetton, Philip and the other injured were being carried along with them to the small boats, which was now their only escape. The fire had spread back into the tunnel blocking off any passage that way.

From her position by the prow, Robin saw that the concrete tunnel seemed to be shaking. Portions of it looked odd to her eyes, almost as if bits and pieces of it were slowly becoming unreal somehow, which was very odd. As she stared at them, they seemed to blink out of existence, leaving holes in the structure.

"Whatever is going on we need to hurry on quickly I think," Robin said loudly but still calmly. "Ape's concert is going away, and anything on the edge between it is going to be torn into itty bitty pieces. This no doubt includes us, and I imagine the feeling would be like being torn apart from within by thousands of little blades."

"Gah such a horrible imagination Robin!" Nami shouted, lugging out several more long poles. She and the others immediately split up, going to either side of the schooner and joining the four boys in rowing the ship along.

Portions of the aft of the ship began to disappear, but the ship kept going for a time, the crew being too busy rowing to talk, while the mist around them continued to lighten. Then Henzo screamed. "Rapanui, Isoka, everyone, what's happening to you?!"

Luffy and the others turned as much as they could to see what was going on. The six boys were slowly becoming incorporeal as the Straw Hat crew watched, their solid bodies beginning to disappear. It looked almost like they were turning into ghosts, the effect becoming worse as the _Resolve_ continued to move through the mist.

"A time paradox," Robin muttered. "I have read about such things in fantasy novels, but I never thought the effect would be like this…"

"Explain that!" Luffy ordered, looking over at her from where he continued to row.

"A time paradox is when something is occurring which creates well, a paradox," Robin said somewhat lamely. "If you go back in time for example, and something happens to cause you to not exist in the present, the theory goes that you will disappear from the future. It's extremely confusing, but that is the only thing I can think of that would explain what we are seeing."

"So, so if we continue with you we'll disappear?" Isoka said, sounding scared. The youngest boy had actually begun to cry, while the others were in shock.

"I'm afraid so. I am no expert, but that is the only guess I can make at this time." Robin replied, looking at Henzo, who was simply staring at the children in shocked horror. "Henzo-san?"

That question seemed to shock the old man out of his stupor and he nodded slowly.

At this Rapanui acted quickly. He grabbed his nearest friend and pushed him towards the back of the ship. "Let's go! Out over the back of the ship. If leaving is causing this, then if we stay in Ape's Concert we can save ourselves!"

"Wait, no! I haven't done all this, worked with Whetton and his family for so long, perjured myself and my work, just to let you disappear like that!" Henzo bellowed, trying to stop them but the other kids quickly followed their leader, racing to the back of the ship faster than Henzo could keep up with.

None of the Straw Hats interfered not even Nami, Chopper and Makino, simply watching on. All of them knew that Rapanui had made the right choice.

Rapanui waited until the others had jumped overboard, swimming strongly towards one of the pontoon rafts which had broken off from Whetton's tunnel. He smiled wanly at Henzo saluting him Marine style. "Don't worry Henzo, we'll see eachother again my friend, I promise!" With that he turned, leaping into the ocean after his friends.

"No! Take me with you at least!" Henzo said, clambering up onto the guardrail. However Nami reached him before he could jump off, pulling the older man back and holding him easily as the _Resolve_ continued on it's way.

Soon enough the ship brok through the mist, and a bare instant later the Rainbow Mist flickered and disappeared. It didn't dissipate like mist normally would but like it had somehow teleported away. One moment it was there, the next it was just gone, leaving Henzo sobbing on the aft deck of the Straw Hat's ship.

 **OOOOOOO**

While Henzo was broken up about how things had turned out, the rest of the island's inhabitants were gleeful. The tower was destroyed, and Whetton and his people dealt with in no uncertain terms. Most of them had still been in the water when the Mist disappeared, and Luffy, Zoro and Sanji had rounded them up easily, umping them in tied up bushels on the wharf. Only Lake remained free, having surrendered himself and his father, so long as his father receive medical attention from the previously downtrodden populace.

Coming ashore, the pirates were greeted like heroes and invited to a celebratory feast to be held that evening. Sanji quickly joined in the preparations, which might have had something to do with the chief cook being an attractive blonde woman, but no one chose to comment on that. At the same time, Luffy led several of the locals in creating jail cells that Whetton and his people could escape from, and Chopper saw to any injuries among the prisoners after actually somehow reattaching Philip's sliced off arm. It would never have the same range of movement as it had, but it would still serve. Zoro on the other hand just decided to take a nap on the _Resolve_.

While this was going on, Nami went back to shopping with Makino in tow. She had a list of plumbing materials and other things, including tiles, which Ranma wanted to use to redo the shower area, something she was very eager to see get done.

While she would have preferred to immediately begin cataloguing her newfound gains. Instead she simply set up a small photo lab, which took much of the remainder of the day. With that done, she went to find Henzo holding her copies of the Rainbow Mist series under her arm, sans the one Henzo had already taken.

As she had known she would, she found Henzo in his lab, sitting in the dark of the interior. An opened bottle of wine was open on his desk, with two more empty ones on the ground completed the tableau.

He didn't look up when she entered, but Robin took no notice of that, setting the books down on the desk. At the thump he looked up, but then away, a surge of anger going through his features, only visible in the sunset coming through the open door behind Robin. "What's that for now! What use are they now." He growled. "ninety plus years, ninety plus years I've waited, and what happens, the Rainbow Mist won't let them go!

"Perhaps, but I had another thought I wished to share with you. Time paradoxes like I described do exist but there is another sort or paradox." Robin replied, calm in the face of the old scientist's bluster.

Henzo actually paused at that, staring at her thoughtfully. It was obvious her words had restarted his brain. Robin smiled at that, then touched the books. "The other sort is the kind which occur when an individual already exists in some form. Literature on what happens in such a happenstance is mixed, but many writers seem to think that two of the same person cannot exist in a single dimension. That could mean your friends are out there somewhere already, or came out somewhere in the past to us, but the future to them."

Now Henzo's eyes were alight with hope and Robin smiled, turning toward the door and exiting quickly. "Just a Thought, Henzo-san."

"That was a very good thing you just did," Luffy said from the darkness, nearly startling Robin enough to make her jump.

One hand going to her chest as she felt her heart beating rapidly, Robin glared at Luffy, who pushed himself off a rock he had been sitting on, seemingly waiting for her. "Were you following me, captain-san?" she asked, knowing the nickname irritated him. She used them for everyone occasionally, but rarely for Luffy for some reason.

"Nope, was actually going to drag Henzo to the party, figured he needed. You did a much better job giving him hope than I could. So like I said, that was a good thing you just did."

"Thank you." Robin replied, looking away. "I know only too well what it feels like to have your dream snatched away from you. I did not want Henzo to do something he would regret."

Luffy nodded, moving over to walk beside her without a word. Somehow though, that was enough for both of them at the moment, and they walked in companionable silence back to the main town.

The crew and the locals partied throughout the night, the pirates gleefully ecstatic with their spoils. The pictures, the mech suit Lake had used in his battle with Zoro, the books, medical equipment and everything else that they found was stored in the ship. In fact, the hull was completely full of stuff now. The hold and Robin's room in particular were filled with stuff, and Chopper's office was only slightly better because he had tried to organize as they went, while Robin and Nami hadn't.

As ship's purser and cargo master (a job she split with Sanji), Makino was rather irritated with the clutter, but just as happy about the total haul. "Better to have to much and need to organize it, then to not have anything at all."

Two days later, the crew left with a grateful populace waving them farewell. And barely half a day later, four Marine vessels arrived at the island. At first three of them were being towed behind the lead vessel, a galleon to the three schooners, but the three schooners were rowed into the cove, up to the wharfs, while the Galleon had to drop anchor a ways away from the shore.

On the first ship which tied up to the wharf were several faces Henzo had, even after Robin's little pep-talk, thought he would never see. Having joined the delegation of townspeople to welcome the Marines, he gasped stepping forward from the line as he saw who was in the lead of the Marines. "Rapanui!?"

"I told you I'd see you again old friend!" Rapanui said gleefully moving over to the old man, and grasping him in a hug fit to make Henzo's old ribs creak.

However, while the former Pumpkinhead Pirates reunion was garnering some attention, the majority of the townsfolk's attention was on the extremely beautiful looking Marine Captain, who strode down the gangplank from the schooner and clicked her fingers. "You," she said pointing at a random one of the citizens as she barked around her long cigarette. "Tell us what has been going on here."

The tale that followed seemed somewhat fantastical to Captain Hina, but she had been born and even traveled a lot of the first half of the Grand Line, so she wasn't about to scoff at anything. _Still,_ she reflected looking over at the more senior captain. _I can leave Rapanui here to take care of things while I continue with my own mission._ "Two days you said it would take the Log Pose to set and the Straw Hats left barely half a day ago?"

When she received a hesitant but affirmative reply, the locals after all had no desire to help her to hunt down their saviors, Hina scowled, turning back to the ship. _Hina irritated! I'd hopes to make up time, but were still behind them. Still, we can catch them up at the next island perhaps. I will need to see what information new have about it first, but I refuse to fall further behind Luffy and his crew!_ She paused at that, and scowled even harder, nearly biting through her cigarillo. _I mean, Mugiwara, Mugiwara and his crew, not Luffy!_

 **OOOOOOO**

That evening found the crew of the _Resolve_ going about their business on the ship. Sanji and Zoro were training ostensibly, or rather having a full on brawl to one side of the main deck. Chopper was busy trying to understand the various medical equipment and pills he'd found, testing them each in turn and taking meticulous notes on each.

He was in a very, **very** happy place at the moment, as was Robin, organizing her new book collection. She wanted to read through the journals they had discovered first, using them as a basis to translate the books written in different languages. She would wait to examine the pictures until after she was done with the journals.

Luffy in contrast wanted to examine the pictures first and was irritated he needed to wait until the pictures finished coming out of the chemical solution. But even with those not ready he could have examined a few of the devices they had found, in particular a gun Sanji had brought back. It was in pieces, but it looked interesting.

But instead Makino had shanghaied him to join her and Nami in the main hold. There the bursar was going through what they had discovered With Nami, who was more interested in trying to estimate how much they had than to organize the hold. Nami was positively giddy, and kept on hugging Luffy as they went through it all. "This is my idea of paradise!"

"That's nice and all, but I'm hungry" Luffy said, blushing slightly as Nami kissed him on the cheek right next to his mouth, "And I can't eat gold or jewels. I'm going to go put a stop to Sanji and Zoro's flirting, and see if I can get our cook to actually make something.

Nami laughed, turning away suddenly grateful that Luffy hadn't either noticed or wasn't going to comment on their near kiss. Makino had seen it, and she cocked an eyebrow at the younger girl, who quickly turned away, resolutely not meeting her gaze.

There was a festive atmosphere that night, as the crew had a more much more personal party to themselves celebrating their latest victory out on the main deck. This ended abruptly however when Nami screamed in shock, staring down at the Log Pose on her wrist. "What the hell!?"

The rest of the crew quickly gathered around her. "what's wrong Nami?" Luffy asked for them all, resting a hand on her shoulder.

Nami held up the Log Pose to eye height so they could all see what had caused her shout. "It's it's pointing up on a diagonal! **UP**! What the heck is going on?!"

End Chapter

* * *

Yes, the fights in this chapter were nothing to write home about. But let's face it, at the Straw Hat's present strength, could they be any other way? The next real fights they face will be in Skypiea. Enel in particular is going to push Raffy harder than he has ever been before. I have a few plans for Jaya first though that we need to get through before that point and I think at least a few of what I have planned there will also surprise you all.

Anyway, hope you enjoyed, and remember to check my profile for the poll when I post it tomorrow night.


	15. Chapter 15

Ain't Oda or Takahashi.

Hallelujah, _Stallion of the Line_ finally won in the small story poll! It took first thanks to my patty r ons since it only brought in 265 votes here, but it had a total of 1,161 thanks to them. _FILFy_ was second of the two small stories that one in the small story poll with 988 votes, 523 votes from fanfic.

 **Regarding ATP:** I have not been in communication with Mordreek, RL kicked my ass, and it has been doing similarly to him, however going forward I will redo the outline for the chapter so there are less Asgardian centric sections. In that manner, I should be bale to get a chapter out next month, but I still cannot promise to do so just yet.

Thanks go to _Hiryo_ for helping me get the names and the flow to go the way I want it to and to _Michael_ for his small mistake editing work.

* * *

 **Chapter 15: Learning to Fly**

At first the majority of the crew could only stare down at the Log Pose on Nami's wrist in shock. The first to break out of his paralysis Luffy leaped up quickly towards the tiller, staring at the Log Pose that was permanently set there, and shook his head. "This one's pointing up too! What the heck is going on?"

The only one who wasn't staring down at the Log Pose at the moment was Robin, who was up in the crow's nest on lookout. At their words she too looked upwards and so was the first to see that the sky was about to fall on them, if in a very limited fashion. "Look out!" she shouted. "Large ship incoming!"

At first they all looked around them, and she realized that she needed to be of the more specific as the shadow of the ship, a large galleon of some kind, started to occlude the sun above them. "I mean directly above us!"

Luffy and the others looked up at that, and Luffy was thankful to note that the ship falling on them wasn't actually directly above them, but rather it was to the port side. A smaller ship might well have been missed entirely, given the fact they were still moving, but the _Resolve_ was too large for that, and there wasn't enough wind to push them out of the way in that way.

"Sanji, Zoro, with me! Chopper, protect the crow's nest! Makino, Nami inside!" Luffy knew that Robin couldn't get down and into the ship to safety in time, and Chopper had become an expert at using Guard Point during the fight against the Marines. This would be relatively simple in comparison. While Makino could use Tekkai, there was no need for her to do so just now, while Nami was entirely without a defensive technique just yet.

Robin ducked down as Chopper was hurled upwards towards the crow's nest by Zoro. He grabbed onto the side of the small nest, flipped himself up and over, and then bit down one of his rumble balls shouting, "Rumble! Guard Point!" Then Robin's world was obstructed by a large, fluffy mass, and she chuckled, patting it companionably for a moment. "Thank you, Doctor-san," she said sweetly, causing Chopper to blush slightly, though she couldn't see it from her position.

Thankfully, he didn't start dancing, as the large ship above them completed its fall towards them. Zoro roared out his long-range attack, which sliced the ship—which was already badly damaged—in two. Luffy quickly smashed several bits of the ship to one side as Sanji kicked at some other, equally large bits of debris.

But this left a lot of debris to still fall, peppering the deck and shredding the sails to pieces. The trio couldn't be everywhere at once, so the three men had to concentrate on the larger portions, with Zoro slicing them into smaller bits or smashing them away with the flat of his blade, and Sanji and Luffy smacking the bits and pieces away.

Down below, Makino tackled Nami out of the way of one larger than normal splinter, around the side of her forearm, which had shattered on the main deck where they had all been standing. An instant later she rolled and hurled both of them through the doorway and into what had once been the captain's quarters but had since been changed into the crew's gathering place and cafeteria.

Eventually the odd assault ended, and Luffy landed next to Chopper, patting him on his furry hide with one hand as he looked around then again. "Looks to be all clear!" he shouted, and Chopper swiftly changed back into his normal body, falling down to land next to Robin in the crow's nest.

She stood up fully once more and nodded to them both thankfully. While she would have been able to protect him herself from most of the smaller bits and pieces with her Hana-Hana Fruit, it would've hurt tremendously unless she was able to actually grab the bits and toss them away. That was one problem with her powers and one that made her eager to learn Haki: some of the pain that her conjured body parts took was transmitted back to her body, if in a somewhat lessened form.

Makino and Nami came out at that point, only for Nami to scream in fright from a skeleton that had fallen through the defense to land and subsequently break apart on the deck. Robin noticed this too, then stared thoughtfully out at the remains of the ship, which was settling onto the ocean waves, slowly sinking as she watched.

Before she could say anything, though, Luffy turned to Sanji. "Sanji, hop on over there. See if you can find anything that can tell us where that ship came from and why the heck there aren't any people on it." Luffy had been on the lookout for people among the falling bits of debris and hadn't seen anyone alive, though there had been a few skeletons.

Sanji nodded, saluted mockingly, and leaped into the air, using his mastery of Geppo to move over to the sinking ship as they had all been doing during the defense.

As he did, Luffy turned back to the others. "Zoro, you're with me. Make sure the ship isn't damaged and then get the replacement sails up."

"I'll do that," Makino said, standing up right from where she, too, had flinched backward into the ship's mess at the sight of the skeleton. "But someone needs to clean the deck!"

"Not just yet, if you please," Robin said, climbing down from the crow's nest with Chopper following her. She took one last glance at what must've been the prow of the vessel, staring at it and committing its features to memory before reaching the deck. There she ducked inside, past the two other girls, to put pull out a book from one of her numerous bookcases, coming back and setting it on the ground along with a small bag while her quick, nimble fingers started to piece together the skeleton. "Chopper, if you could help me here, please?"

Chopper nodded, though he looked a little freaked out, as did Nami, which the orange-haired woman gave voice to. "That is nasty, Robin!"

"I've seen worse," Makino said, moving past the thing now and moving to furl the remaining sails and drop the anchor, pulling them to a halt. The sea was relatively calm today, and they had already been slowing the ship after Nami's shocked shouting earlier.

Thankfully for the crew of the _Resolve,_ it wasn't very damaged. The deck had been holed in a few places from bits of metal falling, but nothing large. Two of the starboard side's gunports had lost their covers and a piece of the rail had shattered, but the main damage had been to the sails. Luckily, thanks to their fight against the Hawkins Pirates, they'd picked up several sets of sails in recompense for their help. Once the two of them had finished moving around the ship and made certain there was no damage under the water line, Luffy and Zoro helped Makino pull off the damaged sails and replace them, which took them about twenty minutes or so longer than the inspection had.

By the time they were done the skeleton had been put together, and Sanji was on his way back, drenched to the bone and having had nearly been caught in an enclosed room when the wreckage sank beneath the waves. He waited nearby, smiling thankfully for the large towel Makino had given him and waiting for Robin and Chopper to speak first before going into his own findings.

"The man was in his mid-forties, healthy enough judging by his bones, at the least, and without any injury to his chest or skull that would indicate a violent death," Robin said, looking at the skeleton thoughtfully. "He was laid out, I believe, a very long time ago, since his skin and flesh desiccated off him naturally. I also have here pieces of what appear to be a casket as well. The most interesting point is this," she said, holding up the skeleton's skull and pointing to a large hole in the back. "This is not a wound from battle; the edges are too smooth and healed over for that. Instead it looks to be some kind of medical treatment, correct?"

Chopper nodded authoritatively. "Robin's right. That is a mark from a very old method to reduce swelling in the brain."

"That and the fact that its teeth are so well preserved." Robin actually picked at one of the teeth with a small instrument, coming away with a black looking substance. "Tar on the teeth, placed there after death. This, and the practice that Chopper spoke of tell me a time as well as the ocean where this ship originated. South Blue, I believe." With that she set the skeleton down and began to flip through her book, then nodded. "That was the ship the _St. Briss_ , lost over two hundred years ago from the Kingdom of Breeze," she said excitedly. She turned to look at Sanji. "Though where it came from is still a mystery, of course."

Sanji nodded, holding out a map. "Well, I realize that we should all be sort of immune to surprises by this point in the Grand Line, but prepare to be amazed, ladies," he said, ignoring the men as he sometimes did, holding out the map in both hands towards Nami. "Nami-swan, is this a hoax or a real map?"

Nami marched over and stared at the map in his hands, eagerly tsking from time to time as she looked at it thoughtfully before shaking her head in astonishment. "It looks real, but…Sky Island?"

All of them crowded around to look at the map, which indeed had the header of Sky Island. The map looked like a fanciful one in many places, which was why Nami had been tsking in annoyance. But it had all the markings of a real map; it was aged appropriately like a parchment map that had been well cared for for a long time. It had the underlying marks of a sextant and other navigational and mapping devices, and it had a few places marked on the interior of the island as well. It wasn't a good map from Nami's perspective, but it would've passed muster for most.

"I still don't believe it, though," Nami said, staring upwards now. "Sky Island? How can that even be possible!?"

"You are asking the wrong question, Navigator-san," Robin said shaking her head. She pointed first to the Log Pose on Nami's wrist, then to the other kept up by the tiller, shaking her head with a faint smile. "Those are still pointing upwards, correct?" When Nami nodded reluctantly, Robin went on. "In that case, Sky Island must be real, and our Log Pose has locked onto it. Logic on the Grand Line is different from anywhere else. Here, the only logic that truly exists is simple: believe in your Log Pose and follow it. If you do not, even the greatest of navigators will be lost on this ocean. The Log Pose is the only way through the Grand Line."

Makino nodded too. "That's what Shanks-aho always said, anyway. Though.…" She frowned. "The asshole might once have mentioned Sky Island, but he had been there when he was very young I think."

"Odd to think of Shanks as young," Luffy said staring upward in thought. "I agree with Robin. If the Log Pose is pointing in that direction, there's got to be something up there."

"Do you think you can fly us up, then?" Nami asked sarcastically. "Ship and all? Because I don't see any way to get up there!"

"That is indeed a question. I could use Geppo to get quite a ways up there, that's true, but the air would eventually get too thin, and that would affect my ability to move around, let alone carry other people," Luffy said, taking Nami's gibe seriously. "But there's no way for me to get the ship up there, even with Zoro and Sanji's help.

"It disturbs me that you even thought of trying," Nami said before looking over at Sanji, while Makino seemed to shiver at the very idea of being that high up in the air. "How much of the ship did you explore?"

"Half of it had already sunk after Zoro cut it in half," Sanji reported, somehow having dried his hair and coifed it over his always hidden eye before anyone else could see it, something that Luffy and Chopper, at the very least, were frowning at in confusion. "The forward half remained out of the water for a bit, but I didn't find anything beyond that map in the navigator's quarters before it was underwater. And even then I had to smash my way out."

Luffy looked around at the others. "Do you think that ship could have more clues?"

"Possibly," Robin said with Nami and Makino nodding agreement, while Zoro and Chopper simply shrugged.

"All right, then I think it's time to break out the stuff we took from the purple mist and those Wetton pirates. Maybe we can create some kind of dive suit to go after the ship. I can hold my breath for a while, even deal with the depth pressure. But I couldn't see down there, and I'll need some kind of light. Plus, I think I'd like more eyes on this kind of search than just mine. Sanji, let's see what we can come up with."

Sanji had proven to actually be quite good at sewing, lthough he wasn't as good as Zoro was at woodwork or general construction martial arts.

While Nami and Chopper continued the cleanup, Zoro took up position up in the crow's nest, and Sanji and Luffy brought out the stuff, including one of the suits from the Wetton pirates. In this case, it was the one with the flamethrower. They also took the ragged remains of one of the sails, from which Sanji and Makino began to create a suit to cover one of them from head to toe. Luffy was interested to see if maybe doing that and having multiple layers between him and the water would let him stay male, but he doubted it. If any part of him got even damp, he figured the curse would activate.

Above them Zoro was on the lookout for trouble. After all, this was the Grand Line, and, as confident in themselves as most of the Straw Hats were, they knew not to take this sea for granted. This was how he spotted a ship coming over the horizon, moving in their direction relatively quickly. "Captain, one ship inbound, and…it looks odd."

Makino took a moment from her work, as did Luffy, to look up at that while the others paused in their own activities. "Odd how? I mean, this is the Grand Line," Luffy said.

"Yeah, and anywhere else this ship would probably be called freakishly ugly. Here it's just odd. It has a giant monkey statue on the prow and looks like someone tried to make a jungle fever kind of restaurant into a ship."

"Is it actually a restaurant, or is that just the best example your feeble mind could come up with, national treasure," Sanji asked, looking up in interest.

"You come up here and look yourself, love cook! See if you can figure out a better way to describe it!" Zoro shouted.

Soon all of them were up in the rigging, hanging there as they stared at the oncoming ship. "That is a giant monkey on the prow," Luffy said in a somewhat stunned voice. "It looks like one of those little animals that you see occasionally trained to use cymbals and other things to get people interested in a circus or something.

Over the sound of the waves, they could also start to make out the sound of some kind of chant. "Salvage, salvage, salvage."

"That is an abomination!" Makino muttered, shaking her head and staring at the ship. The others looked at her in surprise, and she scowled. "I became good at costumes because I was initially interested in fashion. Fashion is not just about what you wear, though; it is about architecture, art, and pairing utility and good looks together. That ship is simply ugly!"

"And heavy in the water forward as well," Nami muttered, staring at it thoughtfully. "In fact, it's wallowing so much in the water, I have to wonder what that statue is actually made of."

The ship passed through cannon range quickly despite its ungainly design, coming alongside the _Resolve_ slowly. At that point, a large group of crewmen all wearing the same kind of outfit appeared along its side to stare down at the crew of the smaller ship. "Captain!" shouted one of them, grinning down at the other pirates and fingering his cutlass. "We've got a ship here stopped and looking to be busy with something!"

"What!?" shouted a bellowing sort of voice, and suddenly there was a monkey standing on the monkey statue's head. He was large, a little taller than Luffy and Zoro or Sanji, but with far broader shoulders, wearing what looked like a suspenders and T-shirt combination, which made Makino gag, and Nami patted her on the shoulder consolingly.

Of course, most of them didn't really care what he was wearing. They cared about the fact that he was a monkey. "A monkey pirate?" Zoro muttered.

"A monkey pirate **captain** ," Luffy said with a laugh, wagging one finger admonishingly at Zoro. "That's an important bit, right there."

"But he's still a monkey," Sanji said, puffing on his cigarette thoughtfully as he stared at the odd person hanging there in the rigging.

"Perhaps he ate the Monkey-Monkey fruit and this is his Devil Fruit form?" Chopper said helpfully from where he stood in the crow's nest with Zoro.

The man had heard all this, and seemed pleased, rubbing one hand down his face and smiling brightly at them. "Really, you think I look that much like a monkey?"

"So much so that I think your father and mother probably conceived you in a tree," Luffy said with a laugh.

"Aww, that's so nice. You are good guys!" the man said.

Luffy simply grinned. _God, I love the Grand Line! So much random shit, so much adventure!_

"But setting that aside," the man said seriously, "I have to ask if you're here to salvage anything. This is my, Masira-sama's, territory! Perhaps you've heard of me?"

"Can't say I have, sorry," Luffy said with a shrug of his shoulders.

"That's impossible! We're famous in this area for our salvage operations and for patrolling the sea too! In fact.…" Masira looks to one side and smirked in what he might have felt was a conspiratorial manner. "In fact, there's a rumor going on that I am being considered for Shichibukai!"

"Your own crew wouldn't have started that rumor, would they?" Luffy said, to which Masira laughed.

"Still, are you here to salvage something? If you are, we're going to have to fight," the man said regretfully.

Luffy looked around, and his crew all shrugged. "A ship just tried to fall on us from on high. We figured, since it nearly destroyed us, anything on it would belong to us. But we're not interested in gold or anything else, just information about where it came from. Maybe we can make a deal."

Nami was about to scream at Luffy about how of course they were interested in treasure, when Zoro quickly clamped his hand over her mouth. She growled, pushing it away just enough to start to bite down on it, and Zoro hissed, pulling his hand away and shaking it out, glaring at her as she glared back while the both of them continued to hang there in the sails.

"Information or not, this is my territory!" Masira shouted, though at first he had looked amazed, then eager, and now very combative. "If you want anything, you'll have to pay for it."

"That ship nearly sunk mine!" Luffy said, now starting to become more serious himself. "I say anything that's on it belongs to us."

"You hear that, men!" Masira shouted. "Looks as if these guys want to fight! Let's get them!" he shouted, leaping over the side.

But he was met in midair by Sanji. The fighting chef kicked out hard, catching Masira in the center of his chest and hurling him out over his own ship to crash into the water beyond, nearly out of sight. Before the startled and now starting to get scared pirate crew could respond to that surprise, Luffy and Zoro had leaped aboard, attacking them brutally. But they didn't kill any of them; they simply knocked them out, tossing them this way and that like so many nine pins.

When they were done, Luffy looked around, smirking a little. "Well, that worked out," he said to Sanji, who landed next to him.

He looked at his captain quizzically, and Luffy went on. "These guys were saying something about salvaging. That must mean they have the appropriate equipment, right? Let's look around for it."

Soon enough they found both diving suits and an apparatus situated in the Masira statue that would pump air down to them. Nodding at that, Luffy decided to take Sanji down with him—Sanji was a better swimmer than Zoro, if only by the slimmest of margins—as well as Robin. Inside the suit she would be able to be underwater without losing her ability to use her powers or, in fact, move, since Devil Fruit users couldn't move once dunked in water, entering something like a comatose state.

As they all pulled on the suits, Luffy asked, "That reminds me of a question I've been meaning to ask you: how do you and Chopper actually shower? I mean, if Devil Fruit users all lose power their powers when touched by water, then.…"

"Chopper, I believe, simply scrubs himself down with soap then goes racing through the showers, treating it like a game. For my part, I do it in stages, though I would prefer to have a bath rather than a shower. In a bath I could dump my entire body much more easily while still retaining a small line with which I would be able to pull myself out." Robin replied to the odd question seriously, finishing pulling her suit up to her neck. "After all, it isn't our entire body that becomes immobile, just the bits that are in the water."

Luffy paused as he was about to pull on the glass helmet of the suit, staring ahead of himself thoughtfully as Sanji did the same. Both of them were thinking much the same thing for a moment: the idea of Robin naked and in a bathtub. But Luffy broke out of it and moved over to slap Sanji on his shoulder. "Enough of that," he muttered, while Robin giggled, knowing exactly what the two had been thinking at that moment.

The three of them swam down into the water slowly thanks to Robin not being the best swimmer, down towards where the falling ship had gone. At one point a large fish flashed towards them through the water, its mouth open, but Luffy shook his head and simply glared at it, his suit going black for a moment, or rather, her suit. While these suits gave them air, they were still damp, and that had been enough to activate her curse. Looking scared, the fish quickly swam off in the opposite direction.

Robin, however, was slowly becoming more and more out of it thanks to that same dampness. Seeing this, Luffy moved towards her, putting her arms around the other woman, their chests pressing together as Luffy pushed her helmet against Robin's. "I'm going to tug on your line and send you back to the surface. This isn't working for you, obviously. But put some eyes and maybe a mouth and ear in my helmet before you go. That way you can direct us."

Robin nodded weakly, her eyes barely open. Even through the merely damp clothing, the touch of the ocean all around her was getting to the Devil Fruit user. Indeed, she was barely able to activate her power enough to do as Luffy requested, then do the same with Sanji, who was treading water nearby. "Thank you, Luffy. I'll see you both when you get back," Robin said through the mouths she had created on the interiors of Luffy and Sanji's helmets.

You're welcome." Luffy replied even as she backed away from Robin. A second later Luffy tugged on Robin's rope, and she watched as Robin was hauled upwards quickly. Chopper and Zoro were on the lines up there as well as the bellows keeping them supplied with air, while Makino and Nami stood guard over the prisoners and searched their ship, respectively.

As she was tugged to the surface, Robin went on speaking, her voice low and her words nearly slurring under the effect of the ocean soaking through her clothing. "I have four eyes looking behind you both and to either side as well as one mouth and one ear. I'll be able to direct you to anything that catches my interest that way. I'm sorry I wasn't more help."

"It's fine. It was an experiment, and it failed," Luffy said, now swimming back down with Sanji.

The two explorers soon reached the wreckage, which turned out to be the aft and much of the center portion of the ship. The center portion had been shattered and torn by something before it had fallen on them. Nonetheless, there were still some things in the hold: a few more caskets, which somehow hadn't fallen out after Zoro had cut this portion of the ship completely free from the rest; and, underneath them, something else, something with a handle, that Robin spotted.

Under her directions, Luffy slowly excavated it and then stared. "What the heck! It looks like, like some kind of tiny boat. But it's got no sail, and.…" She looked at the end of it and frowned. "That looks like the engine my brother has on his personal surfboard. Almost, but not quite, like a shell and engine mixed? Though his ship doesn't have that control stick."

"That is definitely something that we need to grab," Robin said excitedly, her voice sending a shiver down Luffy's spine and causing Sanji to go into paroxysm of his normal twirling dance.

Ignoring the love-cook's antics, Luffy nodded at that and tied it to several more random ropes she had brought down, letting it hang there for a moment as they continued their search. But beyond books that had been so decayed that they were no longer readable or came apart when they were touched, a sight which caused Robin to actually let loose a low whine of pain, Luffy and Sanji couldn't find anything.

The only other thing that they found was something that Sanji found in a small treasure chest, situated in what must've been the captain's quarters. Inside it he found a feather of some kind, and he shook his head before coming out with Luffy. There were a couple of other things—a suit of armor that Luffy thought looked kind of cool and numerous amazing shells and other things—but she wasn't going to bother dragging it or any of the rest up to the surface.

Eventually the two pirates nodded at one another, and even Robin agreed that they had found everything they could. There were a few things that she would have liked to look at more closely that might have told her more of the ship's history, but they were already badly faded and that would have made that rather pointless. With that they headed back up towards the surface.

As they began to swim upwards, a large turtle swam by, a truly massive specimen of the breed, larger than the ships riding the surface of the ocean above them by far, looking almost like a miniature mountain. It chomped down on the remains of the ship, its eyes closing in evident enjoyment of the treat.

"Must not get enough fiber in its diet," Sanji remarked, causing both Luffy and a listening Robin to laugh, the sound causing Sanji to go into another dance as his eyes turned into hearts once more. Then they watched as the turtle moved as if it was about to surface, still chewing its treat.

"Well, I think we just found a faster way up," Luffy said, swimming over until she was right above the rising turtle and letting it come up underneath her, along with Sanji, who had raced to join her. The two of them grinned, smashing fists as they rode the turtle up towards the surface. _God, I love the Grand Line!_

As the turtle surfaced, there was shock and horror from the others they had left behind until they saw Luffy and Sanji sitting on top of the turtle rather than in its mouth. "God, worrying us like that," Makino said with a sigh. "I should've known better." She watched as Sanji and Luffy cut away the lines leading to them from the other pirate ship and began to hop through the air towards the _Resolve_ , where Robin had pulled the odd little boat onto the deck.

They stopped, however, as a giant shadow suddenly appeared over them, even the turtle stopping its chewing for a moment to open its eyes and stare. Above the two pirate ships and the giant turtle was the shadow of some kind of giant. It was monstrously huge, larger than anything Luffy had heretofore seen. In its hands was a spear, the spear's point directed down towards the turtle.

Frowning, Luffy shook her head, pulling off the diving suit's helmet and staring around. "That can't be real," she shouted over the shrieks of fear from Nami, Chopper, and even Makino. She also noted that a few of the other pirate crew had opened their eyes only to slam them shut and tremble in place, but she ignored them.

"What do you mean, not real?" Nami said, stopping her wailing and running about to stare up at the redhead as Luffy finally alighted on the _Resolve_ 's deck.

"I mean, I might not be the best at Kenbunshoku Haki, but I'd be able to sense something like that, especially if it was a threat."

"But then, what's causing that shadow?" Chopper murmured, scratching at his chin for a moment. Then He exclaimed, "I got it! A giant shadow! That just means that someone is creating it, right, but from far away, like someone standing on top of a mountain."

"Yes. Very, very, far away and above us, Doctor-san," Robin said, closer to the sun. She looked over at Nami. "Will that do as proof that Sky Island exists, Navigator-san?"

"That something exists, anyway," Nami muttered, shaking her head. "All right!" she said, waving her hands in the air as everyone else stared at her. "I'll admit it's real, but I still don't see how we'll be able to get up there." As their faces began to fall, she then smirked and pulled out what she had found on the other pirate ship while Luffy and Sanji had gone diving. "However, I do know where we might get some more answers. Look what I found!"

She held up what looked like a Log Pose at first, until you noticed there was an actual name etched on the little gold plaque at the bottom. "An Eternal Pose to a nearby island named Jaya. I bet we could get some more questions answered there, right?"

"Makes sense to me," Luffy said with a nod, looking over at Robin. "Isn't that the island with the pirate town you mentioned?"

"It is, indeed. The town is called Mock Town because it is a mockery of a town," Robin replied. "I passed through there briefly, but it didn't have any kind of local architecture or history to interest me. Still, perhaps I was hasty."

"We could use some more supplies too. Not so much food, though, we could use more vegetables, red meat, and nails. We've got enough wood and metal strips, but not nails," Makino supplied.

"Good," Nami said with her own nod, then looked over at what they'd found, her eyes alighting on the odd-looking boat. She moved over to it, examining it closely. It was too damaged to make use of, but it was obviously something different than anything they had previously seen. She moved the controls this way and that, muttering about how responsive it would be.

"It's like some kind of personal rowboat," Luffy said, looking at it again in interest. "But with some kind of propulsion to it?"

"Oooh, you used big words," Nami said mockingly, pushing her shoulder against Luffy's jokingly. "Still, it's a good find if we can figure out a way to repair the 'propulsion,'" she said, making little quote marks around the word while winking at Luffy.

Luffy laughed but waved her off. "I think we've got other fish to fry right now, Navigator, don't we?"

"That's right," Nami said, moving towards the tiller and setting the Eternal Pose down on the balcony right in front of it. With that she began to bark out orders to the crew to trim the sails in a certain direction as well as raising the anchor. Soon after that they were on their way.

Behind the _Resolve_ , on the other pirate vessel, one of the pirates stirred slightly, looking over the side. "They're gone, and they found our backup Eternal Pose."

"That was scary," another man muttered, pushing himself to his feet. "Three people against our entire crew and they beats us like, like so many monkeys!"

"Don't let the boss hear you say that," said another, then gasped as did everyone else as they shouted as one, "The boss!"

"Which direction did they hit him?" said one of them as he raced towards the tiller of their giant vessel. "We need to find him!"

 **OOOOOOO**

The trip to Jaya took the rest of that day and into the next, and the ship arrived offshore at Mock Town at nearly midmorning after an incident with a bird being shot by someone well over the horizon. That had made Luffy and the others twitch a little, but there wasn't anything they could do about it, so they set it aside for now save for Chopper who was both worried and furious at the death.

The port of the small, mostly shabby looking town was filled with pirate ships. Every ship there was flying a version of the skull and crossbones, a riot of different colors, ship types, and designs. There was shouting in the distance, the sounds of laughter, gunfire, and fights. There were numerous drunkards just laying out on the wharfs. As they watched, two men were shot dead and their bodies dumped in the ocean by pirates of a rival crew while onlookers laughed and pointed or shouted insults.

"Oh my God, this place is horrible!" Nami muttered, shaking her head. She turned a glare on the rest of the crew. "Look, this place is a pirate haven, which means there will be fights around every corner, and I know you all too well to think you'll just walk away from any provocation. So I want a promise from all of you who go ashore that you won't fight here. We're just here to get some information, some supplies, and get gone."

"Hell, no!" Luffy said, crossing his hands in front of him, then staring sternly at Nami. "For one thing, you're not in charge here, Nami. I'm the captain of this crew, remember?" He held Nami's gaze until she looked away, scowling. "Second, that is a stupid ass vow to make when we don't know what trouble we're going to run into." _I learned my lesson about stupid promises with Pig-boy, thank you so much._ "There's no way I'll hamper our crew like that in what amounts to enemy territory. Third, we're pirates too, Nami. Fighting's part of what we do."

Her scowl deepened, but Luffy went on inexorably. "Chopper, you go with Nami as one group. Robin, you'll come with me. Makino, you and Sanji are another group. Zoro, I want you to stay here, on guard. With what we have in our hold, that's a necessity."

Zoro frowned at that, but nodded. "Right."

"Good. Now, let's go," Luffy said with a grin, leading the way off the ship, where the three groups all quickly went their separate ways.

What none of the Straw Hats had noticed, though, was that a few of the drunkards on nearby ships had heard what Luffy had said. And, after the majority of the Straw Hats had left, many of them began to make plans. Luffy had been right after all: fighting among themselves was something most pirates did as a matter of course.

 **OOOOOOO**

"Damn, Robin. What you told us about this place hardly did it justice! I've seen six, seven bars, five blacksmiths, an equal number of carpenters, and something like three real houses? Not certain that would even count as a town, really." The two of them had to sidestep halfway through Luffy's statement in order to dodge a man being thrown from a nearby rooftop that simply added more emphasis to his words.

"Truly lawless, indeed," Robin said complacently, one of her hands appearing almost automatically when someone tried to grab her rear in passing. In an instant she twisted him into a pretzel shape, if a pretzel shape could be said to be screaming, and tossed him into a nearby alleyway.

They both stopped and looked up at the man who had tossed the individual which had nearly hit them. He was a large, heavily muscled man with wide shoulders, wearing a belt with a huge gold buckle and a Mexican wrestling mask that covered half his head. "I am the champion!" the man shouted.

Luffy looked up at him thoughtfully, then shook his head and started to move on. Robin moved to catch up with him, looking at her captain thoughtfully. "You're not going to pick a fight?"

"He's not worth my time," Luffy said with a shrug. "I doubt he's even the captain of his ship, frankly. He didn't give off that kind of vibe." _My ki sense might be limited, but I can tell that for sure. He doesn't have Haki anyway, and that's enough for now. Besides, between picking a fight or spending time with Robin, the choice is easy._

When Luffy didn't elaborate, Robin went back to their previous discussion. As they had left the ship, the two of them had begun to talk about what an island in the sky could be like, with their theories becoming more and more outlandish. Luffy stood by his theory that any animal up there would have to be incredibly light, whereas Robin favored the idea of specially evolved flying birds making up the vast majority of animals. How an ocean of any kind could be up there was something neither of them understood, though Robin speculated it had something to do with cloud formations. "I remember the clouds appearing particularly dense, for some reason, when we saw that shadow."

As they crossed another street, looking around for shops where they could go for information and for more clothing for Robin—she had barely three sets of clothing with her, and hadn't been able to find anything in the Rainbow Mist—she changed the subject slightly. "By the way, when we were in the Rainbow Mist, you mentioned a 'Robin Hood.' I thought it was most amusing that Chopper thought that could be my real last name."

"Oh, that," Luffy said with a laugh, though he was looking at her out of the corner of his eye. "I read that story a long time ago."

"I find it odd that someone your age would speak of a long time ago. And yet, I get the impression that you actually mean it too, in the sense that an older individual might, rather than using it to describe something that could be more easily stated as, say, a few years back," Robin said.

Luffy shrugged again, now turning to give her a small smile. "And what does that mind of yours tell you that means?"

"I don't know yet," Robin said honestly. "I have several conjectures, many of which have to do with your curse, which defies even the…tenuous grasp on logic… Devil Fruits stick to?" She held up a finger, her lips widening into a smirk and then a smile as Luffy's eyes lit like blue fire in amusement at her, his own smirk widening into something that more resembled a Cheshire grin.

Both of them now knew they were playing, and Robin rather liked it and lifted up another long finger. "Two, your 'Haki' abilities. I have grown up on the Grand Line. I know quite a bit about Haki, even if I don't know how to generate it myself, and I have never heard of any abilities like yours, many of which are frankly on a legendary level, the type of ability that would spread through word of mouth even here on the Grand Line. Third, your general combat skills. A young rookie able to take on and not only defeat but kill a Shichibukai? And four, the fact that you keep on using phrases and dropping other little hints of information that you honestly should not have if you came from a little island in the East Blue rather than one that had access to a library such as the one I had access to when I was a child."

Luffy cocked his head thoughtfully. "So, you have all the pieces, now you're just putting it together. And once you do, what will you do after?"

Robin raised her hands, waving them to either side of her head in an over-the-top shrug. "What would I do? I'm already part of your crew and have no desire~ or need to change that state of affairs." She gave the word desire a little lilt to it, which caused Luffy to blush, something Robin enjoyed. "I simply wish to know."

"Tell you what, Robin," Luffy said with a smile, linking one arm with hers and moving them along. "You tell me about that library you just mentioned and why the Rio Poneglyph is your dream, the full story, and I'll tell you about my background."

Robin frowned at the memory of that long-ago time, the fear of the Buster Call rising within her. Despite Luffy's strength and skills, which she now fully trusted even if she didn't know the origin for much of it, was still too strong for her to overcome. The fact that she was even thinking about sharing that past with him though was rather telling as she thought about it. "I will consider that," she said, closing down slightly but not moving away.

"That's fine. Take you time, Information Officer," Luffy said with laugh. Then his arm moved from where it had been clasped around her own to her waist, pulling her into his side lightly. "Just remember, whatever happened in your past, that doesn't matter a damn to me. You're part of my crew, and you're a…friend," he said, hesitating slightly on the word 'friend' and gazing into her eyes for a moment, and now it was Robin's turn to blush. "And I'll help you however I may, face whatever I have to, to keep you here with me. To make you happy, because that's what nakama do."

Before Robin could respond to that statement—though how she would have, she didn't know—they were interrupted. "What's this, what's this? A young brat trying to make time with a lady!? This isn't exactly the place for that, kiddies, because if you don't watch your environment, well, look what happens!"

With a start, they both turned away from one another to look around them, realizing that a group of ten pirates had surrounded them. They were also armed with muskets and blades. One of them, wielding what Luffy recognized as a cavalry saber, of all things, nodded his head mockingly. "Now, we just want a bit of them ladies time.…"

"And all your valuables," said another man, wielding a large tulwar.

"And all your valuables, of course," the first man said, nodding agreeably at him. "Then you can go on your way with nothing taken from you that the lady probably hasn't already parted ways with."

Growling at that last bit, Luffy took a single step to one side faster than the men could follow and grabbed the man standing there by his wrist. Before any of them could respond, Luffy had hurled that man into the first speaker so quickly and so hard that both of them went flying down the street to crash into what looked like a bar at the end of the street. The others stared in shock, but Luffy was already on them, his fists flashing out, smashing four of them into the dirt. "That is no way to speak to a lady, assholes!"

"I can take care of myself, Captain-san," Robin said sharply. With that she crossed her arms over her chest and clutched four others to the ground. The sound of their spines breaking was audible even over their screams of agony. "I have no wish nor desire to be some kind of innocent maiden who needs a man to fight my battles for me."

"I'll make a note of that, Robin; just don't clutch me, please? That looks painful as hell," Luffy quipped, dodging around a punch and grabbing at the man who had thrown it, locking him in a submission hold and lifting the man off his feet, using his flailing legs to take out another man. Normally he wouldn't have bothered with such a move, but he was honestly rather irritated that his moment with Robin had been interrupted.

As he finished his swing, the legs of the man Rama was using as a flail accidentally bumped into someone else. "Ah, sorry 'bout that," Luffy began, only to stop and turn slightly as he really looked at the man he had accidentally bumped his victim into.

The man was large, standing nearly a full yard taller than Luffy. At first look the man looked fat, but it was the kind of fat that concealed a lot of muscle underneath. He moved surprisingly lightly on his feet as he took a small step backwards to stare back at Luffy. He wore a loose white shirt open at the front, showing his fat looking stomach and hairy chest, had black hair, a wide mouth, and short legs for his size. Under his arm he carried a large brown bag.

"ZHAZHAHAHAH!" the man bellowed, even as he looked closely at Luffy and then over at Robin. "And what exactly happened here?"

Luffy shrugged, not even noticing the man in his arms trying to break his grip desperately, only tightening the hold absentmindedly. "They were trying to shake myself and my crewmate here down and said some things one never should say to a lady. I figured they needed to pay for it in pain."

"ZHAZAHAHA!" the man laughed once more, a big booming sound that carried from one end of the street to the other. "Little dogs bark the loudest, right?!"

"Exactly," Luffy said with a laugh of his own, though he never looked away from the man, who also had not turned his eyes away from Luffy.

"I like those eyes, Straw Hat boy," the man said eventually after a full minute of staring down one another. "What's your dream?"

"To be the Pirate King!" Luffy said, loudly and proudly.

For a moment, all movement around them stopped as everyone stared at Luffy. The rest of the onlookers had all watched and laughed as he and Robin had taken out the ten other pirates, shouting to one another about how the fools had asked for it and how the beauty in the cowboy hat seemed to have some fight to her. But now they simply started laughing and pointing at him. "Oh my God! You must be a rookie with a stupid dream of that!"

"This ocean eats dreams like that, boy! Turn away now before it's too late!"

"Don't get cocky just because you think you can fight! You'll never last on this ocean!"

"Riches, gold, money, and wealth, gain those before you think about calling yourself a pirate king!"

But the big man didn't laugh. He simply stared back at Luffy, who finally let his victim drop so that he could cross his arms and stare back up at the man. Robin had known Luffy long enough now to know that this was the equivalent of Luffy becoming ready for a real fight, and she wondered why. Yes, the large man looked dangerous, but she couldn't detect anything beyond that.

Slowly the man's lips quirked, staring first at Luffy, then at Robin, then back, and he began to laugh. His booming laugh overcame many of the other passersby, and he shouted, "Dreams like that! Dreams like that are what shape the world! Straw Hat, the Age of Dreams will never die!" With that he turned, his laughter booming out as he pulled a pie out from under his arm and stuffed it into his face, shouting out around it, "ZAHAHAHAH, this is such a great day!"

Luffy laughed in turn, ignoring everyone around him as he stared at the bigger man. As the large man disappeared around the corner, Robin moved to stand next to Luffy, who turned away and moved in the opposite direction of the large man. The two of them walked for few seconds in silence, ignoring those around them until Robin said, "You were oddly serious there, Captain."

"Sometimes if a person becomes a good enough fighter, you can sense the strength of those you face. That man was dangerous, far more dangerous than his mere appearance would tell you," Luffy said seriously. "And it wasn't him alone."

Robin cocked her head thoughtfully, then frowned. "It was them? He and the two watchers were together?" With her habit of using multiple eyeballs all around her, Robin had spotted two men in among the rooftops, one of which had been that large, champion-shouting fellow from before.

"Yep," Luffy said with a nod. "Their attention was on us, but mainly on him, just waiting for the word."

 _On a scale of one to ten, that guy was eleven!_ Luffy could tell that that man was even more dangerous than Crocodile had been, possibly a **lot** more. Why his seventh sense was telling him that, Luffy didn't know precisely, but he wasn't about to doubt it after so long.

But now Luffy put it out of his head, having no wish to start a fight with someone like that at the moment. Instead he had spotted a store at the far end of the street. "There we go. You wanted some clothing, right?"

A wicked, teasing smirking appeared on Robin's face, and she nodded before leaning in to whisper in his ear. "Indeed, and since you've behaved yourself so far, perhaps I might give you a treat?"

 **OOOOOOO**

While this was going on, Zoro was dealing with his own issues. Instead of getting the glorious nap he had hoped for if he couldn't go and get drunk, he was being forced to defend the ship from not one, but three different attempts to board from different pirate crews. He didn't care overmuch one way or the other, he simply thought of it as a rather boring exercise routine. As the day wore on, he just wished that they'd all come at him at once, which would both have made it interesting and something he could deal with and then go back to napping. Instead they kept on coming every hour or so, with the groups getting larger.

Nami and Chopper, on the other hand, had a far easier time of it, at least at first. Nami found a clothing shop far more quickly than Robin and Luffy. Being almost as good at gathering information as Robin, she asked a few questions about the island in general—was there anything to see, how Jaya had become a pirate haven—while she moved around the store, buying still more clothing for herself.

Meeting up with Chopper outside, she nodded at him before resting the bags on Chopper's antlers, as he was in his full-deer form for a moment. "I got some information on the best bars to go to for information, though I haven't heard anyone talking about rivers to the sky, odd weather patterns, or anything like that. I still think we're chasing a rainbow."

Chopper shrugged as best he could in this form and then looked at the bags on his horns. "Are you sure you don't already have enough clothing?"

"Silly Chopper!" Nami said, patting him on the helmet. "You can never have enough clothing. Now come on, let's find an alleyway for you to transform into your normal form. I'll want you looking small and mascot-like for this bit."

Several minutes later they entered the first of the two bars Nami had been told to go to for the best information on local conditions. As they reached the street outside, they watched a crew, marked out by a tattoo on their upper arms, carrying a man away. "So that was the hanged man. Doesn't seem to have been much?" said one of the passerby to another.

"Don't be an idiot," that one whispered back, staring up at the smashed window above them. "He ran into the Hyena! Of course he went down to that powerful rookie! It's not every day you run into a pirate witha sixty-five million bounty, anyway."

"Bellamy? Really? I'd heard he was in town," the first man muttered, nodding his head. "That makes sense."

 _Oh,_ Nami thought, _this could be a problem._ Sighing, she turned and whispered, "Chopper follow my lead in there, don't say anything, don't do anything without my permission, understood? Let me do the talking, and only if someone else throws a punch or something similar will you get involved, okay? We don't need a fight with someone who's got that large a bounty on his head."

Chopper nodded, though inwardly he wondered what his captain would say about that. Still, Nami had said he could still step in and protect her if things got physical, so he would willingly follow her lead. He wasn't the type to care about what people said about him these days anyway. Not since he met the Straw Hats and found how much they accepted him.

This was a good thing, because at the moment they entered a few pirates sitting nearby pointed at Chopper and laughed. "Oh my God! Look at that little freak! Seriously, what kind of monster is he supposed to be?"

Chopper turned to them, then gave them the finger as best he could with his tiny hooves. They laughed even more at that, but Nami steered him forward towards the bar at the far end of the room. She too had already garnered some attention, not that that was entirely unusual. There were few female pirates in the first place and fewer still who looked as good as Nami did. Indeed, she was rather surprised to see one girl here already, a girl with bottle-blonde hair down to her shoulders and a bandana on her head combined with sunglasses. Yet, despite her best efforts, the girl's looks couldn't quite compare to Nami's.

Ignoring the crowd, Nami sat at the bar and ordered a drink for herself and for Chopper. She waited until the barkeep came back with their drinks and didn't seem in any rush to leave before saying, "So, my crew and I have a little problem. Our Log Pose is apparently pointing straight up, and we're wondering if there's any information here about how to get to Sky Island."

She would've gone on, but at that point Nami was interrupted by everyone in the bar, literally everyone, breaking out in raucous laughter directed at her. "Sky Island!" shouted one man, who was wearing an open fur coat, of all things. He had long silver hair and was wearing yellow glasses along with pantaloons to go with the open coat and was sitting next to a slightly bulkier, blond-haired man who was wearing a muscle T-shirt in pink, who grinned like a cross between a shark and a pumpkin as he guffawed with his friend. "You seriously believe that! What a crock of shit!"

While she hated being laughed at, Nami kept her cool as she turned in their direction and asked, "Oh, so you're locals then? You know it doesn't exist, that there's something else affected our Log Pose? I though the basic rule of the Grand Line was to always believe in and follow your Log Pose?"

"There's nothing up there!" said another man with a laugh, although more than a few of the other people in the room had stopped laughing at Nami's calm tone and her question. "Though you're not the first to come by and ask about it. The only guy around here who believes in that shit is that old man living on the other side of the island. There's nothing up there, and, even if there was, there's no way to reach it!"

"Dreamers," the other man, the tanned blonde man with the disconcerting grin, said with a laugh. "Only dreamers and other idiots believe in that kind of shit! Sky Island!" He guffawed again, waving his hand. "As if anything like that could exist. Keep chasing that, and you'll never see the treasures that are all around you if you have the vision to take them!"

Nami ground her teeth, a vein visibly twitching in her forehead now. She didn't like being laughed at normally since it reminded her too much of how Arlong and his crew would laugh at her occasionally. But instead of getting heated and argumentative, she simply leaned against the bar, one hand propping her head up on the bar as she smirked at them, pulling out the map they had found with one hand. "I can see you lot are a single pirate crew. Is your navigator here?"

At her cool tone the laughter subsided, the silver-haired man still grinning at her. "Yeah, I'm the navigator and first mate both. Why, babe? You need…directions?"

At his leer the rest of the crew broke out in laughter again, but once more Nami simply shook her head. "Then perhaps you can tell whether a map is authentic or not? You can tell how old it is, whether or not people actually labored over it with mapping tools, that kind of thing?"

"This map," she said, holding it next to her head and looking at it out of the corner her eye before turning back to the silver haired man "is real, right?"

The silver-haired man swaggered up, taking the opportunity to stare down Nami's shirt, which she had expected. Holding the map so that the name of the island was blocked, she waited for a few seconds, then asked him some specific questions about the map and how it had been drawn, things the best navigators would have noticed about any map and other things of that nature. When the man scowled at her and reached for the map, she pulled it back, moved her hand, and showed the silver man the ledger on top. "Look at that," she whispered mockingly. "It might be real!"

As the man scowled and there was a scattering of mutters, she went on. "We found it on a ship that fell on us from the sky. Now, I'm not saying that a ship couldn't have been launched into the air. I've seen similar things done, and I've no doubt my captain could do something like that."

That brought some more condescending laughter, save from the blond man, who was looking at her now with a smirk on his face and his arms crossed as he looked between her and the silver haired man. "But Occam's razor seems to indicate that we might not know something, rather than me being tricked by something so elaborate. Especially on a sea like the Grand Line, isn't it more likely that we just don't know and can't reach it than it doesn't exist? And, if it exists, then there might indeed be a way there," Nami finished.

The silver-haired man backed away as his crew and Captain laughed. "Heh, she's got you there, I suppose," the Hyena said with a chuckle, turning on his friend. "You'll still never be able to find a way to it, though, girly. It might be there, but it's a dead end. Just wait here on Jaya for twenty-four hours, and your Log Pose will be on a new course."

"We'll see," Nami said with a shrug, smug in her victory. "If we can't, we can't, but trying to find a way there sounds like the kind have fun my captain will really like."

"Dreamers!" the Hyena said again, scoffing. "You'll never get anywhere with that kind of attitude on this sea, so quick to chase after dreams instead of seeing the treasures that are real all around you." He eyed Nami up and down. "What say you join my crew instead, girl? You got skills, you got a brain, and you've got a great body! Wouldn't you be happier with a bunch of men rather than some dreaming punks?"

"You couldn't afford me," Nami said with a little growl, crossing her arms to hide her chest from the man's eyes now. "I'm a Straw Hat pirate," she said, pointing past the man to where she had spotted Luffy's wanted poster on the wall. It was from before they hit the Grand Line, but it was a still appreciable amount atsixty-five million.

Bellamy looked in the direction she pointed, then laughed. "You're with that rookie who somehow made up his own bounty? You don't honestly expect us to believe someone good enough to earn that kind of bounty would come from East Blue!?"

"Believe what you want," Nami said, her arms still covering her chest as best they could. "No skin off my back whatever you believe."

Bellamy laughed again. "Fine. So if I challenge and beat your captain down, will you join my crew then?"

"Sure, whatever," Nami replied with a roll of her eyes, waving him off before turning back to the bar. "Now leave me to my drink."

Bellamy guffawed again but stood up, smacking the silver-haired man's shoulder. "You heard the lady," he said with a loud laugh, making for the door. "We'll see you in a bit, our new navigator." The rest of his crew left as well, having taken that as a signal that, yes, Nami would join their crew if they proved they were stronger. Now they would find the rest of this crew of newbie dreamers.

With sparkles in his eyes, Chopper stared at Nami. "That was amazing! You were so cool and in control!"

Nami shrugged. "I suppose, but I've dealt with people like that all my life. Give them a hint that they can…torture…you later, and they'll leave you alone for now. And, besides, dealing with our madman of a captain has given me a very wide view of what we can do. Besides, you were going to fight him, right?"

Chopper nodded seriously. She had been seen that as the others had laughed at Nami and talked about how the Age of Dreams was dead. That kind of talk infuriated him beyond all reason, and Nami could sympathize.

"See," Nami said with a shrug. "It's easier this way." She then reached down and grabbed his chin, turning it up to face her as she went on seriously, her eyes boring into his. "Now, repeat after me. Avoiding fights is a good thing." Whimpering, Chopper could do nothing but answer as Nami wanted.

 **OOOOOOO**

At the same time that was going on, the large man that Luffy had run into was meeting with his crew. "So that was Nico Robin? She's being a bit more open about her presence than I would've thought someone like her would," said a rather sickly looking, if tall, man sitting on top of an equally sickly and tall horse. He had a basket of apples sitting on his saddle and carried along several other bags, all of which had the white cross that was used as a doctor's symbol. He was wearing a fur coat covering his upper body down to his knees and had long, lank hair.

"Bah, the rest of the crew are still small fry! I say we take them now, Captain! Surely turning Nico Robin over to the World Government would be enough for our plans to take advantage of the WG looking for a new Shichibukai." This speaker was the same musclebound man that had been shouting out about how he was a champion.

"Maybe, maybe not, Burgess. Besides, Nico Robin's known as being damn good at slipping away, and the chaos of any kind of fight like that would be perfect for her to do that. Besides, I don't want to get in the way of a man out with his girl; that'd be just rude." He then laughed his loud laugh, once more. "ZHAZHAZHA, especially if that girl has a reputation for stabbing people in the back."

"Indeed. And if it is fate that we fight this other crew, than surely the world will show the strong a sign that their way forward has been decided for them," said another man. He was a rather thin man who was just as tall as the rest of the odd group, with light brown hair which curled down to his lower neck and an emotionless seeming face. He wore a pair of glasses with the one lens seemingly normal rectangular glass while the other was circular and had a cross-hair etched on it.

"Exactly, Augur," Blackbeard replied. Yet, even as he spoke, the large man had already turned his mind to something else. _That hat, something about that hat. Why did I get such an odd feeling when I spotted it? And those eyes, those weren't the eyes of the rookie, no matter how ambitious or strong. Strange._

 **OOOOOOO**

After Robin had turned Luffy into a blushing mess in the clothing store, the two of them had moved to a nearby store that sold all manner of weapons. They were attacked once more between the two stores, but Luffy had fun playing shot put with the attackers, aiming them at the various bars he saw.

Inside the store the two of them moved apart. Robin moved directly to the owner of the store behind the counter, asking first about buying some pistols, which were stored behind the counter. Beyond Makino's, the ship didn't have a supply of those, and one of the ones that caught her eyes was from North Blue, with a small sniper scope on it and a far more advanced look.

"That baby can hold six bullets in this small roll thing," the man said proudly. "I bartered for it off a drunkard once, and it's probably the best of its kind in the whole town."

"Indeed, it looks it. I won't even bother haggling with you on its price, so long as I get some kind of group discount for the rest. And…some information, too."

The man huffed. "Listen, miss, I'm in the business of selling weapons, not news. If you want that.…"

He was interrupted by Luffy coming over and setting down two short daggers beside the pistols Robin had already asked about. He turned away again quickly, moving towards the corner where long poles were stored. "Erm, like I was saying, I don't know much, if you mean about the history of the island or nothin'. Jaya's only been the way it is for something like ten years. Before that there was a small resort and nothing else. It's not like this route through the Grand Line is the one used the most, after all. And.…"

He stopped once more as Luffy returned, propping a few staves, a spear, and a staff that could separate into different portions connected by a small steel chain against the counter. At Robin's look he shrugged. "I might test Nami on them when we get back to the ship. She might be getting slowly better at shooting things, but her training has always been on staves." Actually Luffy wanted to see if they could find someone who could make Nami a special weapon from the tech they had taken from the Rainbow Mist and the idiots who had attempted to invade it. But that was well beyond Luffy's own skill set.

"Um, yeah,…" the man said, perking up even further. "Um, do you have any specific questions?"

"Yes. Our Log Pose is pointing nearly straight up, and we were wondering if there is anyone who believes in this Sky Island," Robin said, injecting just the right amount of amusement and interest into her voice to make it seem as if she was interested but also somewhat dismissive, just the right tone to use if you wanted someone to try and make you believe one thing over another. "We were also wondering where we could buy a map of the island."

"Hah!" The man barked out a laugh. "I've got a map you can buy of the island, but as for that Sky Island crud, I think that the only one mad enough to believe that is this old man named Montblanc Cricket. He lives somewhere else on the island, can't rem.…"

Again Luffy interrupted them, causing Robin's lips to start twitching into a smile before she could control it. This time Luffy held up a cutlass he had taken from near the back of the shop. While the blade was just as wide as a katana, it was shorter than any one of the swordsman's swords, with a slight curve to it. It also had a guarded hilt, the guard having several sharp knobs coming out of it. The cutlass looked like a purely businesslike item, but the pointed knobs and the apparently decent craftsmanship (it was very well made, but not anywhere near even the worst of Zoro's existing blades) gave it a somewhat more impressive feel. "How much for this?"

"Uh, that old thing? Twenty-thousand beli," the man replied.

"I'll give you fourteen thousand for it, and I won't haggle over the rest," Luffy said firmly, and he began to pull out some cash, looking at Robin. "Are you done?"

"Mmm, I don't know, actually. He hasn't answered my questions just yet,…" Robin said, shaking her head.

Luffy blinked at that, then put his cash away and turned. "In that case, come on. I bet we could find another store where we can get our questions answered and some weapons too. Even the cutlass isn't all that good…"

"Wait!" the man said in an almost panic. He quickly leaned under the counter and pulled out a simple map of the island, slapping it down on the counter next to the pistols. He then pulled out a piece of charcoal and circled a section of the island straight across from Mock Town. "Here! Montblanc lives out there! He's the only one who can give you any information on whether or not Sky Island is real. Hell, he's the only one who even believes it's real."

Luffy nodded and then started to count out the cash for the man, who grinned, happy at what would be the biggest commission he'd had in months. Later Robin thumped her shoulder against Luffy's. "That was very well done," she said, letting her lips form a smile now that they were done questioning the shopkeeper.

"Heh. Makino-nee taught me a lot about haggling and such like, and that was actually kind of fun. Besides, you could stretch it into some kind of martial art, erm, Haggle-fu maybe?" Luffy said with a smirk.

Robin laughed aloud at that and then looked down at the map. It was a decent one, despite obviously being a copy of the original. Someone with talent had created it. Yet, even so, it bothered Robin for some reason. "There's something odd about this map," she said aloud, staring down at it in thought.

"Odd how?" Luffy asked.

"I don't know, but it will come to me. Still, I think that the directions to the man who believes in Sky Island, this Montblanc fellow, is a good enough find for now."

Luffy nodded, then pointed ahead of them with a wide smile on her face. "I'll agree to that, and I think I just saw something else to spend our time on."

Robin turned her gaze in that direction and saw what looked like the entrance to a small but very nice-looking beach resort. There was an equally small beach there, complete with a few dozen lounge chairs, a bar set to one side, some umbrellas, and other things. Robin looked at Luffy, and Luffy looked at Robin. "Yeah?"

"Oh, yes indeed. After the past few weeks, I think we deserve it," Robin said with a firm nod.

With a laugh, they had pushed open the doors to the resort and moved directly towards the changing room.

"Excuse me!" shouted a man in a well-dressed suit, moving towards them hurriedly. "I'm sorry, but we're closed."

"Closed for what?" Luffy asked. "I only see a single ship docked here, and no one's currently using the beach."

"I'm afraid that we have been booked by the Bellamy Pirates entirely for their, um…their continued stay here on Jaya," said the man, looking around worriedly.

However, Luffy just shrugged and pulled out a wad of cash, hurling it at the man. "That should cover two people for a few hours, and, if it doesn't, I can give you more when we leave. Right now, I want some sun."

Robin nodded and asked the man, "Indeed, is there a place where can I go to change, please?"

Luffy looked at her quizzically, then down to what she was currently wearing, and then very deliberately back up again. Robin was currently wearing a pair of short shorts, cowgirl boots, and a loose white shirt over a black bikini top. "Really?"

"Well, I'll want to put on bikini bottom and get my boots off, at the least," Robin replied with a laugh and a light dusting of red on her tanned cheeks. _I do rather like where this is going.…_

"That works," Luffy said with a laugh. "Just don't get me wet, please. I'd like to work on my tan for a bit, and the male body is a lot better for that kind of thing."

"That does sound like a nice idea," Robin said with a chuckle of her own. After all, until they'd run into the Purple Mist island, they'd been dealing with more than two weeks of rain. The idea of getting some real sun sounded nice to both of them. "And some drinks, perhaps," she said to the befuddled man, who was still counting the wad of cash that Luffy had tossed in his face.

About fifteen minutes later found Robin and Luffy laid out on lounge chairs, side-by-side, a few fruity cocktails between them on a small stand. "This is nice," Luffy said, leaning back and crossing his hands behind his head. "It's nice to be able to rest as hard as I fight."

From where she was lying out on her stomach, Robin nodded, looking over at him and idly wondered from where he had pulled out those sunglasses, and where they had come from in the first place. _Maybe he purchased them when I was looking at clothing? Luffy is oddly quick about such things for some reason._

"Indeed," she said, then gestured, and a hand appeared next to Luffy, holding a bottle of suntan oil from the small table. "I don't suppose I could trouble you for some help?"

Luffy chuckled and took it, knowing that this was a come on, since Robin could certainly have used her powers to give herself a rub down anyway. "Far be it from me to say no to a lady's request," he murmured, sitting down next to Robin on her chair and warming his hands briefly before squeezing the tanning solution out on his hands.

For a second time in three weeks Luffy's hands moved over Robin's back, only this time there was no prevarication about this simply being a massage or about spreading her tanning oil everywhere. Instead, Luffy's hands caressed her, feeling the skin like satin under his fingers, her muscles twitching as she began to let loose little pleased gasps. Luffy found the arch of her foot was particularly sensitive and to keep away from the back of her knee, which seemed ticklish. His hands also began to caress down her sides, even going so far as to gently touch the sides of her breasts as they squished into the lounge chair. "Ahem, um, I'm nearly done here, Robin…unless you want to turn around?"

Throughout this process Robin was once more fighting with herself. One part of her wanted to embrace this feeling with her captain, not just because she knew that it would be a fun time, but because she had somehow forged some kind of emotional connection with him too, a first for her. But her fears about needing to leave at some point in the future, awoken earlier by Ranma's question about wanting to know about her childhood, was still in her mind.

Yet now, for some reason, it wasn't as strong, the sheer exuberance Luffy had towards life and adventure having sparked the old feeling of joy in discovery in her as well as a feeling that she should seize the day and any joy she could get from it. _And of course there are my hormones too.… You know what? Just this, just this once, I think I'm going to be daring on an emotional level.…_ With that thought Robin turned and reached up, pulling Luffy down. "I think that's enough suntan oil.…"

For a second Luffy wondered if this was a good idea, but his hormones ganged up on that thought. _Screw it! After more than a few months of teasing, I damn well need this_! With that he completed the move, and the two of them kissed.

The kiss started out somewhat hesitantly, but that faded within seconds as their lips pressed against one another. Robin's lips tasted of coffee and chocolate with a hint of cherry to Luffy, probably from her drink. In turn, Robin was surprised that Luffy's lips felt so good, and with the taste of orange, açaí, and pomegranate, somehow.

The two of them kissed, pressing hard against one another as Luffy's hand fisted in Robin's hair while his other hand held the back of her neck gently. _Oh my, yes…_ Robin thought to herself. Humming in approval, she slowly opened her mouth and moaned as Luffy's tongue slid in, licking at her own, then around her teeth, exploring her mouth ardently before their tongues began to duel, first in her mouth, then in midair, then in his mouth, and back again.

Luffy's hand slowly moved down from her hair to around her back, pulling her upright and twisting to one side until he sat up on the side of the chair now with her in his lap, sideways. Throughout this move they continued to make out heatedly, that same hand now moving down from her waist to Robin's rear, giving it an appreciative squeeze. They were so into one another that they didn't notice two waiters staring at them and then moving away quickly. They didn't even notice the arrival of over a hundred individuals, nor did they notice the argument going on between the manager who had taken Luffy's money and Bellamy.

Bellamy hurled the little officious fool aside as he stared at the beach where the two pirates were making out. For a moment he spotted what looked like a straw hat on one of the lounge chairs, but it hadn't registered just yet. Growling angrily he marched in that direction with the rest of his crew trailing behind him, grinning and laughing at what they were thinking was going to be some good comedy before they got some more money. "Hey, you bastards! You two are on private property!"

Despite this shout Luffy didn't look away, still continuing the intense make out session. One of Robin eyes blinked open and looked in that direction before looking away, pressing up harder against Luffy and rubbing her large breasts against his chest. Her mind had quickly analyzed the crowd of pirates and declared them no threats.

Bellamy growled angrily, bringing his fist down on the table, smashing their drinks and the table both. "Hey I'm talking to you!"

At that Luffy finally turned away from Robin and glared at the man. "Dude, don't cock-block me."

At that Robin pushed him away lightly, sliding back onto the lounge chair and pulling her legs up and around Luffy while pulling the lounge chair slightly more upright. "You wouldn't be getting that far on a first date," Robin said with a chuckle, a throaty little sound that caused tingles to go through the spine of every man there. "I'm interested in you, but I'm certainly not easy."

Luffy grinned at her, a twinkle in his eyes that caused her to flush. "An **adventure** wouldn't be fun if it was easy."

Robin laughed. "So should I be worried or proud you want to…plunder my treasures?"

Luffy shrugged. "I'm your captain and I'm a pirate, so your treasures are technically already mine. I'll get to plundering them eventually; I just have to convince you that you want it too." He frowned, then wrinkled his nose as he looked at her, his head cocked to one side in unspoken question.

"Yes, that one was a bit much. Six of out of ten, I feel, and that is only because of the preceding repartee. It was quite a reach," Robin replied, nodding seriously even as her eyes twinkled.

"I'll work on it, Robin," Luffy promised.

"Please do," Robin said with another laugh.

"God damn it, stop ignoring me!" Bellamy shouted, launching it an attack with one of his arms, which turned into a spring. "Spring Snipe!"

But Luffy ducked under it with ease despite a second of surprise at the change. He then punched out, catching Bellamy in the chest so hard the man flew backward and out of the resort into the rest of the town, smashing through several buildings before he was out of sight.

Even from within the resort, Luffy could vaguely hear the roars of the angry owners of those buildings. And, in the nearest one, Luffy could just make out the image of a few dozen men boiling out of the building and attacking everyone nearby. _Huh. Oh right, pirates. I'd bet they thought someone else had thrown him or something; didn't think that he had been hurled from this far back._

"You bastard!" shouted the silver-haired man who had been standing next to the blonde who had attacked him, dragging Luffy's attention back to the area around him. As Luffy watched he raced forward, pulling out an odd-looking sword, Luffy thought maybe a kukri.

But before Luffy could move, Robin sighed, crossing her arms over her chest and intoning her attack. "Seis Fleur: Twist!" The man gasped as hands appeared on his body, two grabbing his chin and two others his legs before they began to pull and twist. The last thing he saw before he fell unconscious from the pain was that the rest of the Bellamy Pirates had been similarly taken out.

Luffy then looked back at Robin with a scowl on his face. "So, I think the mood's been kind of ruined."

"Quite," Robin said with a chuckle before gesturing at the ruins of their drinks. "But I could use another drink?"

As Luffy stood up to go and grab a waiter, he asked, "Does this really count as a date?"

"About as much of one as I've ever been on, Luffy," Robin laughed. "And somehow I think we can't hope for anything less adventuresome in the future."

"Too true, with my luck," Luffy muttered, turning away to search for a waiter.

 **OOOOOOO**

Nami and Chopper had been making their way back to the ship when they heard the commotion caused by someone smashing through a few buildings nearby. They looked at one another, then sped up quickly, hoping to get away from the commotion.

However, Bellamy was made of sterner stuff than Luffy had supposed. Yes, Luffy's blow had smashed a few ribs, but he was still conscious, and had activated his Bane Bane no Mi ability after smashing through two houses. That allowed him to bounce off the next and then around the street onto a rooftop nearby so that the momentum could leave his body slowly.

He glared angrily, shaking his head and holding his ribs with one hand as he stared in the direction he'd been attacked from, having connected the man he'd fought with his bounty poster and the straw hat nearby. _Dammit! Maybe his bounty isn't entirely made up. Still, he got lucky just then. I do have my guard up now, and I'll take him far more seriously now. Wait… Is that?…_

Seeing a mop of orange hair further down the street, he smirked. "While I know I could take him anyway, that doesn't mean I'm against stacking the deck in my favor." With that Bellamy transformed his legs into springs once more and hopped from rooftop to rooftop until he was directly above Nami and Chopper. Chopper was the first to notice, and he turned, shifting into his more human form and staring up at Bellamy as he leaped down, reaching for Nami. Nami, however, leaped out of the way of his bouncing flight, bringing out her small gun for a moment and glaring at the man. "I thought I told you no! You need to learn what that word means, Bellamy!"

"I met your captain, and he's tough," the man admitted as he bounced around the road, going faster with each bounce and timing them between every three words. "I could take him anyway, but I figure, since you're here, why not use you? If he cares about his crew, you're a hostage. If he doesn't," the man said with an evil, over the top grin, "you're meat shields."

Nami laughed loud and long, fearless and unafraid with her crewman beside her. "My captain could kick your ass whatever you tried, and he doesn't even have a Devil Fruit. You know the real difference between you and him, Bellamy? **Willpower!** My captain has the will to challenge the Grand Line, to stick to his dream come hell or high water! You, you don't have any will! You just have greed! That's why you'll never amount to **anything**!"

"We'll see if you are speaking that same tune after I rip out your captain's throat and have you under me!" the man said, bouncing forward, his hands grasping. "The age of dreams is dead, dead for all time!"

But before Bellamy's blow could land, Chopper had stepped forward. He brought his fist forward, hammering it into the oncoming Bellamy's face. "NO it isn't!" Chopper roared. Bellamy's own momentum forced his face deeper into Chopper's fist for a time until Chopper finished his swing, hurling the man aside like a rag doll to crash through a building, his entire face ruined.

"Nice, Chopper!" Nami said, patting Chopper on the shoulder.

Chopper smiled sheepishly even as he wrung out his hand. Bellamy's momentum had been quite a bit more than he had thought, thanks to the springs in his feet. _I think I sprained my wrist,_ Chopper thought. _Totally worth it, though!_

Inside that building however, there had been another bar. "What the hell!?" shouted one drunken pirate, pushing Bellamy's comatose form off him and glaring angrily down at the ruins of his mug of beer. "Where did that come from! Was it one of you fools?!" he shouted, pointing at several other pirates on the other side of the bar.

"Are you blind as well as stupid? He came from outside!"

"Who are you calling stupid!?" shouted the first one, hurling his destroyed mug at the man.

This started a bar fight, which eventually began to spill out into the street as Nami and Chopper watched with sweat drops growing on their heads. "I think we need to get out of here," Nami said.

Chopper, who had transformed back to his little body, nodded rapidly, and Nami quickly led the way down the street, back to the _Resolve_.

 **OOOOOOO**

Back on the _Resolve_ , Zoro cleaned his swords, holding them up to the light as he stared around at the broken, shattered remains of the last pirate crew that had attempted to attack the ship. "Really, you think you idiots would've learned after the second group, at the very least," he muttered, sheathing his sword and moving over to start hefting bodies over the side. Whether they landed between the _Resolve_ and the next pirate ship or down on the docks, he didn't care at this point.

Once he was nearly done with that job, he stared out into the town, where he could hear the sounds of combat starting to grow from several different places. "What the heck? Is this normal?"

He watched as Nami and Chopper raced through the chaos towards their ship, leaping up and onto it. "Where the heck are the others?" Nami growled, looking around the ship as she grabbed her bags from Chopper. "I think it's time we leave!"

Zoro shrugged, surreptitiously kicking the last body off the gunwales of the ship. "You two ran into trouble too?"

"What 'too?'" Nami asked quickly, turning around to glare at him, catching the sight of the body he'd just kicked over the side. "Zoro, what have you been doing?" she asked slowly.

"I don't know why, but a few pirate groups tried to board our ship," Zoro said with a shrug. "Looks as if the captain was right for leaving me behind. There were so many of them, I'd bet the Love Cook would've become overwhelmed."

"I heard that, you national treasure!" shouted a voice, and they turned to watch Makino and Sanji make their way up the plank. Sanji calmly set down what looked like a small mountain worth of supplies, mostly vegetables of different types, before launching a kick towards Zoro. "And you better not have hurt any ladies among them!"

"Are you daft, love cook? They were pirates, and you know how few women pirates there are. I knocked most of them out, then tossed them over the side. If they're not still there now, they were strong enough to get away. And besides, they boarded our ship!" the first mate roared back, getting forehead to forehead with Sanji, glaring at him. "Get your priorities straight!"

"So we're only missing Robin and Luffy," Nami muttered, feeling a stab of jealousy at the idea that those two were out somewhere together.

"Actually, we saw them earlier," Makino said. "They were heading towards that small resort set to the left side of the town. We had stopped in there earlier, but were told it was booked solid by a Bellamy Pirate crew." Makino wrinkled her nose. "That's always struck me as stupid, you know: a crew taking their captain's name instead of coming up with a name of their own." She shook her head. "More importantly, if Luffy or Robin wanted into the resort, Luffy isn't going to take that for an answer unless the pirates are there at the time, and maybe not even then if he doesn't like the look of them."

"GRaaah! So it was them!" Nami growled, rubbing her head furiously in anger.

"Are you surprised?" Zoro asked, turning away from his fight with the love cook. "Wherever Luffy goes, he's going to create conflict, one way or another."

"God dammit, let me dream!" Nami shouted back.

"Hell no!" Zoro growled. "Think of it as payback for biting my hand earlier. And, judging by Chopper's wrist, it looks as if you ran into some trouble yourselves." Chopper had quickly wrapped up his wrist in a splint as he and Nami ran through the town. "I bet you're happy that the captain didn't let us make that stupid promise of yours earlier, aren't you, you witch?"

Nami growled, her fist rising up as Zoro turned back to continue his fight, only to feel Nami's fist on the back of his head. As Zoro lay insensate on the deck, Nami stalked away with a huff, moving towards the tiller. "Calling a lovely young lady a witch, honestly. Sanji-kun, push us off the pier," she ordered. "That place has a private port so we can dock there and get away from the heart of this madness."

Staring after her and then at Zoro, who was now holding the back of his head, Chopper realized two things. One, he had known for a while: that Zoro had no fear. And two, Nami was **scary**!

It did not take them long to move the _Resolve_ around the slight curve of the pier into the private area of the small resort, where they docked quickly. There they found a few hundred bodies piled up in loose heaps. Many of them still looked broken in myriad different ways, foam coming out of their mouths. And, on the small beach, Robin and Luffy were laying back on their lounge chairs, taking in the sun with sunglasses and hats on their head, looking as if they didn't have a care in the world.

Luffy waved a lazy hand at them but didn't bother sitting up. "Hey, you lot. Pull up a lounge chair. We have two days before the Log Pose resets, so we've got time for some fun in the sun before moving on."

At this blasé response to their arrival Nami growled, leaping off of the ship and landing on the wharf, stomped over to them before glaring down at the pair. But, before she could speak, Robin spoke up. "Mah, Navigator-kun, you seem to have had a difficult time of it. Would something large and fruity take the edge off?"

Nami glared and then huffed, twisted around, and flopped down on a lounge chair on the other side of Luffy. She then turned her glare on a nearby waiter. "You! A large strawberry daiquiri, and if it's virgin, I'll kill you! Then keep them coming, understand?"

The terrified young man nodded rapidly, then turned and ran off while Chopper, who had followed the others, hid behind Zoro. "Nami-san is so scary," he whispered.

"Learn this lesson well, young one," Zoro said, patting him on the head for a moment. " **All** women are scary in many different ways."

"Don't feed him such lies, you national treasure!" Sanji growled. "Girls are soft, fluffy, precious, sweet-smelling, and beautiful!"

"You didn't think that the last time Luffy kicked your ass in his female body," Zoro retorted.

Sanji twitched but stopped speaking as they moved to join the others, with Makino coming up behind them, having ducked back into the ship to change into a bathing suit.

As Nami explained the amount of trouble they'd run into, Luffy stayed silent, and, when she finished, he simply shook his head. "I would've hit that Bellamy guy a lot harder if I knew he'd bothered you, but ya didn't want us to fight but then pointed him in my direction?" he teased, causing Nami to scowl while Luffy turned to Chopper. "But at least Chopper hit him a good one too, right?" he asked, holding out his fist toward the Zoan type.

Chopper grinned and raised his uninjured hoof to smack it, nodding eagerly. "I thought I did, anyway. He was unconscious before he hit the nearest building. But does that mean I did a better job at hitting him than you did?"

"My mind was on other things at the time," Luffy said loftily, causing Robin to burst into laughter on the lounge chair next to him, which, in turn, made Nami stare at her in suspicion.

Sitting down on another lounge chair nearby, Makino smirked. _Oh my word, did something happen here? I might have to talk to Robin-chan later._

Luffy, however, had turned aside to look at Zoro, then down at his swords. "You've been busy too, I see."

"How can you tell?" Zoro asked, though he sounded as if he already knew the answer.

"That cursed sword of yours, Sandai Kitetsu, I can feel it was sated recently," Luffy said, almost glaring down at the blade.

Zoro shrugged. "This island seems to be full of small fry except for a few that are astronomically tougher. I saw this one tall man, a sniper, I think, of some kind, and his skills were insane. And then there was this other musclebound man roaring out about being a champion from the rooftops."

"Yeah, hopefully those few aren't going to pick a fight with us just yet. I've met their captain, and that's one fight I'm not going to go searching for just yet." In the distance they heard the chaos in Mock Town continue, but Luffy simply ignored it, gesturing around them. "I figured we all had earned an hour or so just lazing about here, so pull up a chair, guys, and order some food from someone other than Sanji."

"Even cooks require some downtime," the blond chef replied with a smile at that, taking a lounge chair next to Nami and looking at her thoughtfully. "But aren't you going to go and get a bathing suit, Nami?"

"Oh, that's right," Nami said, clapping her hands and suddenly switching moods. "I just bought a new one, too\\. I'll be right back!"

The Straw Hats lounged for two hours, being waited on hand and foot by the semi-terrified workers. They weren't so much terrified of the Straw Hats, though Nami's introduction had horrified that particular waiter, but the bodies of the Hyenas' crew scattered around the place threw them off, as did the Straw Hats' ignoring of said. Added to that were the ongoing sounds of fighting going through the town.

Eventually, however, Luffy sighed and stood up, stretching and smiling brightly. "All right, everybody, I think it's time we move on."

"Move on where?" Nami asked, also getting up as the others did the same. She had taken a brief break to go and explore the Bellamy Pirates' ship, stealing everything inside that looked shiny, but, beyond that, found that, like the other girls, getting some sun in a somewhat peaceful setting had been a godsend. The last time they'd been able to do that they'd been interrupted by that old marine captain, after all. "We didn't really discover any more hints about getting to Sky Island. Did you have better luck?"

Robin explained as Luffy led the rest of them back to the ship, none of them bothering to change out of their swimsuits for now. Moments later they were out of the port and hugging the coast as they moved around the island. They left behind a group of happy, if somewhat confused, resort workers. The same young waiter Nami had terrified earlier turned to the manager and asked, "Um, so are we supposed to just heave the bodies onto their ship or bury them or what?"

 **OOOOOOO**

"GHAHAHAH! I thought this place was relatively peaceful, but then every pirate crew started fighting every other pirate crew for some reason," Burgess laughed, watching the chaos from on high. Normally he'd be getting involved, but none of the pirates here were really worth his time at this point, and, besides, watching the chaos with a tub of popcorn in his lap was fun too. "Did Doc Q maybe blow up the wrong person?" he teased, looking over at the sickly looking man, who had somehow gotten both himself and his horse up onto the roof without any help.

"I don't know," their leader said, scratching at his chin thoughtfully. "It looks like it's subsiding, but still, Burgess, Doc Q, you two see if you can find out what happened. I'll wait here for sharpshooter."

The man called Augur arrived at the same time the others returned, the tall, thin man carrying a newspaper. Burgess reported that the fight had been started by five of the bars in the town being smashed up by someone being thrown or punched through their walls. Drunken pirates being what they were, that was enough, though Bellamy, the local big fish, had been involved too. Only, rumor said that it had been his body which had been smashed through at least two of the bars. Burgess cheerfully predicted that the fights would restart once the pirates realized that they had smashed most of the sources of alcohol in the town and had to fight for what was left, but that would happen later.

Shaking his head with a guffaw at the weakling's comeuppance, Blackbeard turned to look at his crew's sniper. "And what do you have for us?"

"I spotted this on the wing, along with a few others in the distance. But I felt fated to take it down and find out what information it held within. I was correct. Fate has shown us the way forward, and your wish for a large enough target to come our way has occurred, Captain Blackbeard."

Frowning, Blackbeard took the sheaf of bounty posters and read them one after another. "Now, that's more like it!" Burgess shouted as the musclebound champion stared over his captain's elbow. "None of them are worth a tremendous amount alone, but they're all worth a decent amount, and together that could make our name right there!"

"I thought his previous bounty was a bit low for a boy with that kind of will and strength, but why was he given this larger bounty?" Blackbeard muttered.

"The biggest event that's happened recently is the death of Crocodile, the one that's given us an opening in the Shichibukai," the doctor said. "The news stated that he died in battle against Commodore Smoker, but.…"

"Yeah, that makes sense," Burgess said with a nod. "If he actually killed a Shichibukai, that bounty of his makes sense."

"True," their captain muttered, frowning and scratching his fat stomach. "But I don't want to underestimate someone who killed Crocodile. Overconfident Logia user he might have been, but he was also a New World veteran. Hell, he even attacked Whitebeard before retreating to Paradise."

"And there's the fact that we won't want Robin to be able to escape. If we can hand her over alive, we can probably assume double the amount on her bounty, let alone the rest," the sniper said. "Although these two pictures amuse me," the sniper said, taking off his monocle and wiping at it as he smirked.

After guffawing at the pictures, the captain became serious again, pointing once more at Burgess and the doctor. "Listen, find the captains of the surviving crews, you two. Gather them up at that one bar that's still in one piece. I'll spin them a yarn, I think, and then we can make use of those crews too."

"Cannon fodder to feed into the fire, you think?" the Augur asked.

"That's right. But to do that I'll have to make up a story, which means no more news and no other copies of their bounty. They'll go for the original bounties, but, if we let them see the rest, these pathetic excuses for pirates will chicken out," Blackbeard said with a sneer.

"You realize that shooting down that many pelicans will cause a ruckus with Big News Morgans?" the Augur asked.

"What part of pirates is vague?" Blackbeard said, waving him off. "Just do it and start now. Hopefully you haven't missed any landing yet."

Augur nodded quickly and turned, already readying his gun.

 **OOOOOOO**

As they moved around the island, the crew was surprised to see another ship towards the ocean off their starboard bow, coming towards Jaya. It was another large ship like the one they had met earlier that day and, like it, definitely had a certain jungle fever look to it. Makino again scowled, shaking her head as she looked at it from the deck this time. "What is it with the people around here and their ship designs?"

"You sound like some kind of high-class lady when you say that, you know," Nami remarked, while Robin merely chuckled, staring at the ship from where she was standing by the starboard side of the ship.

As it came close, a loud voice rang out from on high. "Ahoy, you lot! Where are you off to?"

Luffy leaped up onto the crow's nest, staring across and shaking his head at the man who stood there. He looked like an orangutan, but with green hair so long it fell to his leg, a button up shirt which looked two sizes too small for his somewhat rotund torso, covered in turn by a green captain's coat matched to a green captain's hat with his crew's jolly roger on the front.

"Another monkey man?" Luffy asked, cocking his head to one side thoughtfully.

"I see you've made my brother's acquaintance! He is, indeed, a monkey. I, however, resemble the far superior orangutan! Surely you've heard of the great Shoujou," the other pirate captain said, moving to stand at the side of his own ship and looking down at the shorter _Resolve_ thoughtfully as he stroked his long green hair. "I trust my brother is well; he's been out to sea for a few weeks now."

"He was when last I saw him," Luffy said with a shrug, lying easily. "But he had to fly," he added, causing Sanji to snort below him and the rest of the crew to hide their chuckles behind their hands. "As for here, having heard of you, sorry. Can't say I have.

"What a shock!" Shoujou said, grabbing at his chest and falling backwards on his feet in surprise.

His crew, however, all of whom were dressed like some kind of odd amalgamation of an anglerfish and a diver, complete with little hanging things that could be lights over their heads, growled angrily. "How dare you disrespect the boss like that! Don't you know he's in the running for the next Shichibukai position!"

"Nope," Luffy said with a shrug of his shoulders. "Haven't heard that either."

"Well, whatever," Shoujou said as his crew roared outrage in the background. "Despite you not having heard of me, these are our waters. My brother and I allow Mock Town to exist normally, but the rest of the island belongs to us. If you're going anywhere else you have to pay a toll."

"And what happens if we don't?" Luffy asked. He wasn't all that interested in another fight, but he also wasn't about to be shaken down for cash by another pirate.

"We're both pirates, young man," the other man said with a laugh. "We both know exactly what'll happened."

Luffy rolled his eyes. "In that case, I suggest we get to it.…"

But before Luffy could move,Shoujou picked up some kind of microphone, and yelled into it. "Havoc Sonar WHAAAAAAAAAA!" From the sides of his ship massive amplifiers of some kind exploded in sound, targeting the smaller _Resolve_.

The _Resolve_ and the people on board immediately felt the impact of the voice, which started to shake the ship apart, its seams twisting this way and that as the rivets holding it all together were shifted out of position. Further damage quickly began to accumulate while Chopper howled in pain, dropping to his knees. While the attack was painful for the humans, to Chopper and his sensitive hearing, it was horrible.

"That's my ship, asshole!" Luffy roared, leaping towards the other ship, ignoring the pain in his ears in order to deal with the cause of it all the faster.

Before Shoujou could move, Luffy was on him. A hard blow took the ape in the chin, sending him smashing backwards into the built-up center section of his ship. With a roar, Shoujou's crew attacked, but by that point Zoro along with Sanji had joined Luffy, and the three of them dealt with them all easily.

With that done, Luffy retrieved Nami and ordered her to search the ship. "Find any treasure they have and take it. That'll teach them not to attack strangers. Sanji, watch this lot and, in particular, the captain. If they twitch, knock them out again."

Nami saluted happily and swiftly went below as Luffy leaped back down to the _Resolve,_ shaking his head as he stared around it. Several of the floorboards of the main deck had shattered, portions of the rail on the starboard side was gone, and Luffy saw what looked like cracks starting to appear in one of the main masts and several other examples of damage. "This is going to take a while," he said with a sigh. "Zoro, Chopper, let's get to work. And Makino, good call on getting us more nails when we were in Mock Town."

Luffy's prediction soon proved accurate. By the time they were done the sun was nearly setting in the distance, but Luffy was able to repair most of the damage with Zoro and Chopper's help. Nami, too, took a small haul of treasure, not a lot, but a few trinkets, mostly large pieces of jewelry and a few very nice rubies, though where they'd come from, she couldn't tell. Twice Sanji had knocked the captain out again during this time, but he did so with a will. After all, his sonic attack had targeted the girls just as much as the rest of the crew.

"All right," Luffy said, looking around at the ship with a final sigh. "I've done all the repairs I can. Let's get this ship sailing again."

 **OOOOOOO**

Once more the _Resolve_ moved off, leaving a crew of fellow pirate unconscious, but still alive, behind them. The crew of this ship were oddly thankful for this, even if their captain had several dozen lumps on him from the beating he had taken. The first mate, marked out by a white stripe around his middle, raised a hand. "So, I think that whole Shichibukai rumor we started has gone to the captain's head. All those in favor of no longer spreading it, say aye?"

"Aye," shouted a lot of voices.

The first mate nodded and went on, staring around the damaged ship. "And now that they're gone, we can start our own repairs too. Let's get to it before we lose the sun."

Luckily for this band of the Monkey Pirates, help was on the way in the form of a large ship, which Luffy and his fellows were somewhat familiar with from earlier that day.

 **OOOOOOO**

"Wow, it's a castle!" Chopper exclaimed as they came within sight of their target later that evening.

Luffy scratched his pigtail under his hat and looked over at the others, who shook their heads. "I don't think so, Chopper."

The truth of the matter became apparent as the sight came closer. What was actually there was a small hut sitting directly on the edge of a ragged cliff face which went straight down into the ocean. On that side a large, three-story billboard had been set against the hut and then painted to look like a giant castle, complete with balconies, wall, and multicolored pennants flying from pointed towers.

"I think we have an overly proud man here," Sanji muttered, leaping over the side and racing towards a tree near the edge of the cliff to tie off the ship.

"Or someone who has an overactive imagination, at least," Luffy said with a chuckle, leaping over the rail himself. "And, considering the specific adventure we're on right now, that could probably be a good thing."

The others followed Sanji and Luffy onto the shore, looking around quizzically. Robin, in particular, stared at the house, her head to one side as she pulled out a small book, moving to look at the side of the hut. Makino noticed this and followed while Luffy and Zoro looked around. "What is it, Robin?"

"This hut, it looks extremely old. The billboard is new, of course, but the rest is ancient.…" Robin ran her hand over the side of the hut, thinking. "The building structure is unknown to me, but the construction seems to indicate it is at least four hundred years old."

At that point Nami, who had been moving to the entrance to the hut, stopped by a large tree-stump. On it was a children's book, of all things, and Nami picked it up, looking at it curiously. " _The Great Liar Norland_ _._ Neat name."

Blinking in surprise, Sanji turned in her direction. "That sounds awfully familiar. I think it's a story from North Blue."

"North Blue?" Nami asked, looking over at him. "I thought you were like the rest of us and came from East Blue."

Sanji shook his head. "No, I was originally from North Blue." Before anyone could ask about that and how he had found himself in East Blue apprenticed to an ex-pirate, he went on hurriedly. "I think it's a story about an explorer of some kind for a king from long ago and how he came back and made these huge whopping tales up. But he was eventually put to death."

Eagerly, Chopper raced over to Nami, looking up at the book in her hand. At his look, Nami sat down and began to read while the others listened.

As Nami finished, Robin said thoughtfully, "That is a bit of a tragic tale. But it is also an interesting one, considering what we already assume could be true."

"True or not, we're here because he believes that Sky Island is up there and might be able to tell us something about it. But for that, we need the actual man in question."

As if summoned by Luffy's words, a hand reached up over the lip of the cliff face and grabbed his ankle, yanking back hard. Luffy hadn't been expecting an attack, and he squawked in shock, his head hitting the side of the cliff as he was pulled back and over, hurled down into the water before he could respond.

"What the!?" Zoro and Sanji both shouted, moving forward.

A large man, about a head and a half taller than any of the boys and wider in the shoulders, hopped up over the lip of the cliff. He wore swimming trunks and was wet from the water, but the most startling thing about him was the chestnut that seemed to be growing out of his hair, or perhaps the hair was the chestnut, it wasn't clear one way or the other. "Intruders! You'll find nothing here but hard knocks!"

Then the man threw himself forward, only to be attacked in turn by Luffy, who had, after plunging into the water, pushed herself upwards and then up into the air via Geppo. The man was sent tumbling forward as Luffy landed behind him, growling angrily. "What'd you do that for, old man? We're here to talk, not pick fights."

"What the?…" the man said, first glaring over his shoulder at Luffy, then blinking and turning to face the redhead fully, looking very, very confused. "You, were you a girl when I pulled you off the edge?" Before he could truly understand what had happened with Luffy, the man doubled over, clutching his stomach as he fell to his side. "Guuuuh.…"

Luffy frowned. "I didn't hit his stomach. Chopper?"

Chopper raced over, already pulling out his small bag as he began to examine the man. "It's a very bad case of the bends, and one that has built on other examples of it too! This man is pushing himself to his death diving everyday, no doubt!"

Frowning, Luffy absentmindedly pulled off her shirt and began to squeeze it out before remembering there were two other men here, turning a glare on them. Zoro had already turned away, but Sanji was staring, hearts in his eyes and blood flowing from his nostrils. "Oh, God dammit, Sanji!" Luffy snarled, hurling her wet shirt at the boy's face.

As she pulled out of a dry one, Luffy didn't see the look at Robin had been giving her as she had changed forms and then changed shirts, but noticed it upon hearing the thoughtful hum the other woman let loose. Luffy looked at her questioningly, and she simply shrugged and smiled, letting her eyes rake down the redhead's form, causing Luffy to smile in turn. He then turned back to the man. Nami had kneeled next to him, beginning to help Chopper straighten him out and push him onto his back to better allow the doctor to help him.

Later they helped the man inside and introduced themselves. Sitting by a window, the man lit up a cigarette and nodded his head slowly at them all, while outside, night settled in. "Name's Montblanc Cricket, kids. Thanks for the help, I suppose. But what're you doing here?"

"You mean, besides from keeping you from killing yourself?" Luffy asked. "And that last name and your appearance, are you related to the Norland from the story?"

"That's right!" Chopper shouted, leaping up and grabbing the man's cigarette. "You're repeated diving has injured your internal organs severely, and that includes your lungs!"

"Oy!" the man shouted, trying to grab back the cigarette, but Chopper raced away, and Luffy and the others laughed. "Bleeding punks," the man muttered, shaking his head. "And, damn it, yes, I'm related to Cricket. But what brings you here?"

"We were told you believe in Sky Island. We think it's real too, and we want to go there," Luffy replied bluntly. "We've had a ship fall out of the sky on top of us, have half a map, and, frankly, it just sounds too awesome for me to not want it to be real!" Luffy said, her grin so wide it looked as if it should have taken her head off. Around Luffy, her crew smirked or smiled as their personalities dictated.

For a moment Montblanc stared at her, the smile seemingly taking him aback, then he scoffed. "So you're here for that old tale about Sky Island? Well, I can tell you some stuff about it, but whether or not you'll believe it is up to you."

Luffy looked at him thoughtfully, crossing her arms as nearby Robin had started a cup of tea, or, rather, coffee for her and hot water for Luffy to change back to her male body. Eventually she nodded. "All right, we'll believe you."

"Just like that?" Montblanc asked, pulling out another cigarette, lighting it up, and inhaling before he raised a hand and blocked Chopper's attempt to repeat his earlier action of grabbing it out of Montblanc's mouth.

Nearby, Sanji looked at him, blowing smoke rings from his own cigarette. Then he shrugged. "Well, if the captain says so." Most of the others had similar reactions.

Nami frowned. "I don't know. I'm not as trusting as you lot are, but.…" She looked at Luffy, then chuckled. "But I have to say that the captain's track record for spotting who to trust has been pretty darn good. And it wouldn't be as amazing as certain other things either,…" she said with a full blown laugh as Luffy dumped the now hot water over her head, earning a frown from Robin and a mutter of having wanted to have some coffee first.

To the crew's surprise, Montblanc responded to this sight only by a slight widening of his eyes and another puff of his cigarette even as he kept Chopper away once more. "The captain believes in Sky Island, and the crew believes in the captain. That's not a bad way to organize things, I suppose," he said at last. "But most of what I can tell you is simple conjecture. I've never been to Sky Island myself. Does that discourage you?"

Luffy shrugged. "Even if we don't know anything for a fact, we'd still want to see it, we'd still want to believe in it. It's like, anyone would want to see what's beyond the horizon, the dream of it and the hope that it's real. That there is that kind of wonder in the world."

"Well said," Makino said with a smile, and even Nami grinned agreement, while Zoro and Sanji chuckled, Chopper looked up at his captain in awe, and Robin simply chuckled.

Even the older man laughed. "A crew of dreamers! I like that, boy! All right, so here's what we know. There is a theory that Sky Island sits on a special kind of cloud called Island cloud. You know about Seastone?"

From there the man began to explain all he had theorized about the existence of Sky Island. Halfway through the man's tale, they were interrupted by the door banging open, and the two monkey captains appeared. "Old man, are you all right!?" they shouted as one, then glared at Luffy and his crew. "You lot, what are you doing here!?"

"Exactly what we told you we would be doing: trying to figure out if Sky Island is real," Luffy replied, looking at them with his head to one side. "Huh, you two are more durable than I honestly expected."

"And don't shout!" Chopper said, wagging a hoof at them. "The old man is sick and needs his rest. We've helped him a bit today when he could have died from the bends, but he's still not out of the woods."

"What! You helped him?" When Chopper nodded, the two monkeys seemed to deflate and then cried. "You are such good guys!"

After a second though, Chopper cocked his head to one side. "Wait, how do you know them, Cricket-san?"

"Bah, they are just fans of the stories! They barged in here months ago and basically demanded to become my subordinates." Montblanc smirked over at the two monkey-men. "They kind of saved my from my own loneliness, I suppose."

"Wow, that's so cool," Chopper said, then suddenly shifted to his larger form, grabbing Montblanc and shaking him. "Then why don't you use their diving equipment, you stupid old man!?"

"Because I've got my pride and can dive deeper than they can go!" Montblanc roared, grabbing Chopper in turn. "Don't judge me like that, you little shit!"

"Don't call me a little shit, you, you giant stupid turd! That makes no sense at all!" Chopper shouted back, his teeth even shifting to almost match the shark-like teeth Nami sometimes showed when she was angry. "Stupid old man, are you trying to kill yourself out of pride or something equally idiotic?!"

Zoro smirked, smacking Luffy on the shoulder. "I'm starting to see some of your influence rubbing off on our doctor."

"Heh, I'm so proud," Luffy replied, wiping away an imaginary tear. "Soon he'll be taunting with the best of them and even have a large bounty of his own." He then looked sideways at Sanji. "Who knows, he might even get a real picture too."

While Sanji twitched at that jibe, Nami rolled her eyes. "Cricket-san, you were saying something?"

Pushing Chopper away, Montblanc huffed and moved to a nearby trunk. "I was saying that, even if it is circumstantial, there is some proof that something existed there, smashed into the sky by the Knockup Stream." From within the trunk he pulled out a large bell about the size of his fists pressed together, made entirely of gold

"Gold!" Nami exclaimed, reaching for it.

"No," Luffy said, reaching forward and grabbing her shirt, pulling her back to land on her rear before rubbing her head. "Bad Nami."

Nami pouted at that but subsided as the man laughed, tossing her the gold bell, which she caught with difficulty. He in turn pulled out a statue of some kind of bird also made of gold before he continued to speak. Nami rubbed her cheek against the gold, cooing at it like it was an animal, while Robin peered at the bell, studying the images closely as she wrote some of them out in her notebook.

"So this Knockout Stream would be able to carry us up to these super-dense clouds?" Luffy asked, and then winked over at Robin. "Looks like you called that one."

"I might have, but I didn't honestly believe in it," Robin replied with a smile, looking up from her work.

"It'll carry you up there or kill you," Montblanc said bluntly. "If you're not right in the center it can hurl your ship into the sky halfway and then dump you to the side or just shatter your ship; it is that powerful."

Luffy looked over at to Nami, who nodded. The way Montblanc had described it, she believed such a thing could be technically possible. "It sounds impossible, but so does the entire Grand Line, really," she said aloud. "But how long will we have to wait around for this Knockup Stream?"

"Tomorrow at midday," the man said bluntly.

"That close!" Sanji muttered, looking at the Montblanc closely before once more pulling out his cigarette to blow a smoke ring. "I'm wondering how our luck is. I mean, this is some shitty weird coincidence."

The older man shrugged once more. "Believe me or not, that's up to you. But we can get you out to where the Knockup Stream will happen next, and we can even fit out your ship for the trip. You'll need some additions to it or else the wind of the passage carrying you up will also push you off the Stream."

Luffy looked at the man and the monkeys who were nodding excitedly at the very idea, then shrugged his shoulders. "You can't be a pirate king without a lot of luck, both good and bad, Sanji. I think we can trust him. But how are we going to get out to a specific spot on the ocean? Nami's good, but no navigator is that good in the Grand Line."

Nami blushed at the offhand compliment, while Montblanc nodded, patting the statue of the South Bird. "That is what this little fellow is for. This is the South Bird. Its beak always faces south, straight south, from wherever it is. It'll get you out there…if you can find one, anyway," he finished, smirking evilly at them.

 **OOOOOOO**

"That much gold? Are you serious?!" said one captain, looking at the large Blackbeard.

"That's what my crewman said when he came back from Alabasta," Blackbeard said, nodding seriously. He had acted as a loyal 'son' to Whitebeard for over two decades. Tricking these fools was nothing for him. "According to him they stole a shipment of gold from the World Government sent to Alabasta to help the island get back on its feet after the civil war. It's more than five billion in gold, hence their huge bounty."

"That much gold at on top of the bounty itself! He's right, there would be enough for everyone," said another pirate captain, pulling at the rim of his hat as he stared around the room at the others. That, of course, was pirate parlance for, 'there would be enough for the survivors,' but every captain there understood that.

"All right, Blackbeard, we're in. Just don't you dare try to double cross us, or we'll send you to the bottom just like them."

"Of course not," Blackbeard said, now looking mildly affronted.

"What about you, Hyena? Are you in?" asked another man, looking towards the battered form of Bellamy, who was here only because he was a known Devil Fruit user, not because anyone felt he could actually help in his current condition.

When the Hyena spoke, he confirmed this fact, his voice a mumble through the ruins of his face. He had several ribs broken, lost most of his teeth, his jaw was wired shut, and his eyes were nearly closed with the swelling in his face. "No, I'm not in. My crew is all injured; I'm the only one that can even walk, for God sakes! You lot will have to do this without me," he ground out, staring at Blackbeard, who smirked back at him.

Bellamy could tell that the older man was planning something, but he couldn't care less about the rest of the pirates here anyway, so what did he care what that plan was? No, he was just happy that most of his crew would recover thanks to their two doctors, neither of which were much good, really, but had been out gathering supplies and hadn't been part of the encounter with Straw Hat and his cursed bitch. _Maybe that way we can all get out of here and find the Don, tell him about that asshole and his crew._

"More for the rest of us," said another pirate captain, grinning. "Their ship might be tough, but there's no way they could fight all of us at sea!"

"That's the spirit!" Blackbeard said with a laugh.

"Why did you want us in on this anyway? Your ship's a galleon, Blackbeard. I've seen the number of guns it's got," said another captain suspiciously.

Blackbeard shrugged. "My ship's big but slow. I couldn't even catch up to their schooner, let alone pin it down to pound it into pieces. But we've got enough guns to knock it down to Davy Jones if we can do that." This wasn't a lie. If the _Resolve_ , a schooner rig, wanted to, it could show Blackbeard's ship its heels any time it wanted. Even so, his ship was a little faster than he was letting on.

The other captains nodded, as that made sense. With that, all of them stood up and left the sole remaining alehouse, heading back to their ships. "In that case, we'll see you out on the water, Blackbeard."

Left behind, Blackbeard smirked at Bellamy, asking sarcastically, "What, not going to shout out about how dreams don't matter any longer, you daft punk?" Bellamy growled but said nothing, turning aside. "At least one little dog has learned its place today, then," Blackbeard said with another loud guffaw as he too left.

Bellamy sat there for a moment, staring after the other pirate and then down at the bounty before scowling and rising shakily to his feet. _I might be a small fish in this sea, Blackbeard, but I'm smart enough to have already made friends with a leviathan. And if I can convince Doflamingo to show an interest in this Luffy character or you, you might both pay for this day's work._

 **OOOOOOO**

"All right, that is it!" Luffy shouted, punching aside another giant bug as Nami cowered behind them. "I have had enough of this!

"Those South Birds are acting like generals, sending in these animals like troops!" Chopper said, shaking his head. "I keep hearing them in the distance, saying things like, 'this is our forest' and 'get out, humans' and 'you'll never catch us!'"

"Yeah, but we don't have to keep playing their game," Luffy muttered, then thumped one foot down on the ground as he released his Haoshoku Haki.

Behind Luffy, his crew twitched, Nami and Chopper feeling somewhat faint while the others staggered, and they weren't even the target of it. But all of them bore up with various levels of difficulty, with Zoro throwing it off the easiest and Chopper having the worst time of it, with Nami next.

However, the effect on the attacking creatures was far more profound. They all collapsed where they were, foam appearing on their mouths or between mandibles, as, nearby, several birds fell out of the trees, including one of their targets.

Robin quickly gestured, and hands appeared around the target, entrapping it, while others grabbed the odd looking 'arm ball,' and tossed it towards them, where Zoro caught it. The rest of the crew looked at her, and she shrugged. "So long as I can see it, it was easy enough."

"Let's head back," Luffy said grumpily. He had not been pleased earlier when his attempts to climb the trees had been spoiled by the amount of poison oak and ivy up there. Every time he tried, the South Bird would lose him for just a second, flying faster and with more agility than it really should have had, leading him into one patch after another. It would then take all his skill to keep out of the ivy patches, by which time the South Bird was gone from his sight, and, as good a tracker as Luffy could be for things on the ground, he couldn't track birds worth a damn.

Because of that and his friends being equally inept at this task, the crew had been at this for nearly the entire night after having split up into teams. And then they came back together only to face still more attacks when they did. None of the attacks were more than bothersome, but they were all certainly that, especially to Makino and Nami. Nami had a normal girl's hate for all bugs, while Makino loathed moths in particular. "This was not how I wanted to spend my night!"

By the time they got back to their ship, the _Resolve_ had been fully modified for its trip up the Knockup Stream. The two crews of the monkey men had worked seamlessly together to create two wings and a new figurehead for the ship.

"…Is that a chicken head?" Luffy growled, staring at thing at the front of the ship. Nami simply gaped, while Robin quickly grabbed Makino. The older woman looked positively incensed by this attack on what she considered acceptable ship design.

"You've got good eyes, brother!" shouted Masira.

"And those wings, they, they'll work, will they?" Zoro asked, cocking his head to one side as he stared at what had been done to their ship.

"That's correct!" shouted Shoujou.

"Are you telling me it will fly?" Chopper asked, staring in awe at the ship.

"That's right!" shouted Masira again, accompanied by many a shout of agreement from his crew.

"But why a chicken?" Luffy asked quizzically.

"What, do you have a problem with chickens? They're our favorite kind of bird," said Masira.

"Yeah, to eat, not to have their head on my ship's prow! I mean, I don't know much about art, but I know what I like!" Luffy shouted.

"Exactly!" Makino said, breaking free of a giggling Robin. "I understand the purpose of the wings and can accept their design, but that head is just wrong!"

"Enough of that, kid. You don't have time to poke holes at their admittedly horrible fashion sense. You'd be here all day," Montblanc said, shaking his head and staring at the South Bird Nami was carrying. "I see you caught one. Good."

"No," Nami said, holding up a finger. "This goes far beyond fashion sense."

"Whatever," Montblanc said, gesturing them toward the ship. "You need to get going if you're going to catch the Knockup Stream."

Sighing, Luffy nodded and held out his hand. "Thanks for the help, Montblanc," he said, grasping the other man's hand and squeezing firmly. "Once we get up there, do you want us to figure out some kind of way to tell you Sky Island exists somehow?"

"Do whatever you want, brat," the man said, shaking Luffy's hand once and then letting go. "No skin off my back either way."

"Is that an example of a Tsundere?" Robin asked, giggling as she passed Luffy by, heading to the ship with Makino.

"Probably," Luffy said, falling in step with them before pausing. "But where did you even hear that term?"

"Where did you?" Robin asked loftily, her giggles turning into full blown laughter at Luffy's consternation.

"I don't know what that is, but I feel like I was just insulted!" Montblanc shouted. "Get going, you lot!"

"Yeah, yeah" Luffy said, hopping up onto the ship. "We'll be sure to show you that Sky Island is real, Montblanc, that your ancestor was telling the truth! Believe it!

Chuckling, Montblanc watched them go. "Damn brats. Still, it's been a long time since I saw someone with that kind of smile. I wonder if he'll change the world too?"

 **OOOOOOO**

Unknown to any on the pirates on the island of Jaya, several hours away, trouble was closing in. In this case, trouble was in the form of a massive Marine galleon whose lookout had just spotted the island on the horizon. Instantly it began to move in that direction, slowly and with its sails mostly furled, so they could possibly take any pirate near the island by surprise.

 **OOOOOOO**

At first the trip out to where the Knockup Stream would occur was peaceful enough, and, thanks to the South Bird, it was relatively easy to. "I can't believe this bird," Luffy said, twisting the neck of the South Bird lightly to one side and then watching as it flipped back the other way. "I mean, I'm all for discovering new things and wild and crazy stuff, but a bird who can only face south? What the heck is the point of that?"

"I would think it was obvious," Nami said with a huff, smirking as she smacked Luffy on the shoulder. "We're using it the way the bird probably does on its own: if you always know where one direction is, you can always find the others. In fact, I bet with one of these you could even try to make a map for the Grand Line like you normally can do with the rest of the world."

"Ah, but you would have to have enough supplies to get you from one island to the other in the direction you chose to go," Robin cautioned, also looking at the bird.

Huffing grumpily, the bird twisted its own head away, muttering something under its breath. "Bwah, brah, rrah."

"Chopper?" Luffy asked, looking down at the small doctor.

Chopper nodded, shifting his face once more to look something like a street tough. "He says, 'Hah, that's what you know! Watch, I'll twist another way, and I'll throw you all off course.'"

Luffy nodded and looked back at the bird, crossing his arms. "All right, let's see you do it."

The bird muttered under its breath once more and continued to point in that direction. But as they watched, it could only keep it up for a few seconds before abruptly twisting back to straight south.

"That's what I thought," Luffy said with a chuckle.

The _Resolve_ continued on its way, following the two monkey ships, with Zoro taking a turn up in the crow's nest with the others manning the sails, save for Nami. She went to work trying to figure out how the additions messed with the ship's handling. Zoro was up there with the spyglass, staring all around them on watch for trouble along with the watchmen of the other ships. He saw a few sails out by the horizon, but he didn't make a particular note of them until he saw a few directly ahead.

At Masira and his brother's orders, the _Resolve_ slowed, the crew furling the sails and coming to a halt between one moment and the next as the wind died down for a moment. As they did, the two monkey ships moved away slightly, their captains arguing about how long it would take for the Knockup stream to start and whether or not the _Resolve_ should anchor itself.

But Zoro, still staring at the one set of sails out there, frowned as they multiplied and grew. "Captain, I think you better get up here," Zoro said.

Luffy looked up, then shrugged and leaped upwards, planting a hand on the middlemost mast, then flipping himself upwards to land on top of the mainmast. "What is it?" he asked as he crouched there.

Zoro wordlessly handed over the spyglass, and Luffy used it to scan the horizon, scowling as he saw what Zoro had. "What the heck? That looks like four, five ships out there, spreading out as they come towards us?" Turning to one side he saw four more, straight ahead, all spread out, then, twisiting around the other way, he saw three more there. _What the heck?_ "We have incoming, everyone! Battle stations! Get the cannons run out! Makino, you take the tiller! Nami, you and Robin woman the guns!"

"What is it?" Nami shouted, looking a little fearful. She had a lot of trust in her crew, but that really didn't matter much when the cannons and, more importantly, the wood shrapnel, were flying.

"We have what looks like the entire population of Mock Town pirates coming out after us for some reason, and from all sides, somehow." Luffy said. "Was Bellamy really that popular a figure?"

"Going from his personality, I would have said, heck no," Nami muttered, biting at her finger. "There must be something else going on here."

 **OOOOOOO**

"Captain, we spotted a sail to the south southeast, but it's not on a direct course towards the island we were originally heading for."

"Is it waving a pirate flag?"

"It's a pirate ship, ma'am, but it isn't the Straw Hats. Hold on, wait. It's more than one pirate ship out there."

"An exodus of some sort?" Captain Hina's first mate asked, scratching at his chin.

"Or something," Hina said, shrugging her shoulders. "Still, our duty is clear. Even if the _Resolve_ isn't among them, smashing that many pirate ships at once, especially if they're up to no good, takes priority. Hina irritated. The hunt will have to wait."

With that and a final nod to her first mate, she turned away and he began to bawl out orders as he raced down into the ship. "Action stations!" he shouted at the top of his lungs. "All men to action stations! Gun crews, to your stations!"

"Sail crews, put on full sail! We'll want to catch them up, if we can!" Hina smirked, wildly tossing her cigarette over the side, roaring out, "Hina excited! It's time for some hunting, boys!" She was answered by a roar from her crew.

 **OOOOOOO**

"What are you going to do?" Luffy shouted over the waves towards the other two ships.

"Well fight with you, of course!" shouted Masira, raising his hands in the air. "This is our territory, after all, we only let other pirates on Jaya on sufferance!"

While Luffy rolled his eyes at that, the other monkey man spoke up. "Indeed, indeed. They need to be shown the error of their ways immediately! Little minnows shouldn't try to gang up on a shark."

"Just remember, you can't move from that spot if you want to catch the Knockup Stream," said the first one. "You're in the direct center of it now, but if you move from that spot you'll be on one of the sides, and not only will you be unable to ride it, but the Knockup Stream might just smash you to pieces. Unless you want to miss it entirely and try another time."

"So scary," Chopper muttered, staring over the side.

Sanji patted him lightly on the head. "Remember, you're a Straw Hat monster now," he said when Chopper looked up, giving him a grin around his cigar and a thumbs up. "Whatever happens, we'll handle it together."

At that, Chopper stiffened and nodded, patting his chest with a hoof. "You can rely on me!"

"Well said, the both of you," Luffy said as he leaped down from on high. "Nami, can you tell us if we're likely to see any change in the weather?

Nami frowned looking up and all around for a moment, then thinking hard, biting one of her knuckles again. "I don't think so. The sea around here is of almost a little too calm, though that could presage the Knockup Stream. We're not going to get rain or any more wind than we already are. We should be able to stay in position." Nami was worried about the incoming ships, for certain, but she couldn't do anything about them. The Knockup Stream, while more dangerous, perhaps, was a navigational hazard, and she could do something about that, and it was a lot less scary than trying to get away and facing a fight against the small fleet coming their way.

"But will that last if we take a cannon shot?" Luffy asked.

"It should," Nami said with a shrug. "This ship is a schooner, but it's still big enough to take cannonball shots without being pushed too far out of position. And if we anchor both of our forward cable and back, we can create a stationary platform."

"Do it," Luffy ordered.

"We might not have enough warning of the Knockup Stream to untie, though," Nami warned.

"Zoro," Luffy shouted, "Stay near the aft of the ship! I'll stay towards the front. When it comes time, we'll just cut the cables. Sanji, that'll leave you to protect the port and Chopper starboard."

"Works," Zoro huffed, leaping down to take that position.

Luffy passed by him with Geppo, ascending higher in the air than the top of their crow's nest. He frowned as he saw two others ships out there, but they were too far for him to make out, and he had forgotten the spyglass down below. "The first few are almost within cannon range," he said as he landed back on the crow's nest, shouting down to the rest of the crew. "Chopper, Sanji, remember, we need those wings, so protect them in particular. If it's a choice between them and the side of the ship, the ship takes the hit."

"What? But, but what about the ladies?!" Sanji shouted.

"You'll protect us more by making sure we aren't sunk by the Knockup Stream, Sanji-kun!" Nami shouted as she made to go below after dropping the second of their anchors, which was situated forward. "Please, only you can make sure we'll get out of here safely!"

"Hai, Nami-swan!" Sanji replied, twirling in place before leaping to land on top of one of the wings in question.

"You should be ashamed of yourself, manipulating that poor young man so," Robin said mildly, her lips twitching in amusement even as she moved to stand in the center of the gun deck. Around them hundreds of hands and nearly an equal number of eyes appeared as she prepared the guns, running them out one at a time.

"I might be if it wasn't to make certain we get out of here alive, and if it wasn't so easy," Nami shot back, racing to the second cannon on the port side and heaving a cannon into it followed by a bag of gunpowder.

Soon the first of the pirates came into cannon range, whereupon they immediately began to fire on the _Resolve_. "Hold your fire," Luffy shouted from where he stood right on top of the chicken head, a few cannon balls plunking into the ocean. "Hold fire until they're closer! Let the monkeys do the work for a bit."

As he had predicted, those first shots were horrible. None of them even came close to the ship. At the same time the two monkey ships moved off as one, moving towards the incoming vessels and closing in from port. All of the ships Luffy could see from where he was standing looked to be the same size as the _Resolve_.

On the port side of the ship, where the two monkey pirates had been, that attempt to encircle was disrupted quickly. A vicious broadside engagement began th

ere between three other pirate vessels and the two larger monkey vessels. But they weren't just larger, they were tougher too, and, watching them, Luffy had no doubt that their allies would win that match up.

But the rest of the pirates closed in, and Luffy could eventually start hearing their shouts over the sound of cannon fire as they finally closed into truly dangerous range. Some of them were howling about money and gold, and he shook his head. "Hey, Zoro, I think you didn't do a good enough job on those pirate crews that tried to seize our ship. They're shouting about gold and stuff."

"I don't think so," Zoro said from the back. "Captain, we've got real trouble here."

"And we have trouble over here too," Chopper shouted as the first cannonballs impacted the ship, blowing splinters apart. He blocked one that would have hit the starboard wing but had to let two others through. Sanji blocked one, but the other hit.

The ship returned fire, the girls below manning the cannons, with Makino calling out targets from where she was in the crow's nest, there being no point to her standing at the tiller just yet. One of the attacking ships on the starboard took a heavy hammering, but their ship didn't have as many cannons on it as a normal ship their size would, and the pirates kept on coming, intent on closing to boarding range even as Sanji switched sides entirely, grateful for the monkey men taking out the ships coming from their port.

Soon another round of cannon fire was exchanged, and, thanks to Makino's precise orders, the already battered ship began to sink, holed near the water line. A second lost its way when its rigging was torn to pieces by her rifle fire, Zoro and Luffy lashing out at long range with their disparate air attacks.

Behind them, however, there was the real trouble that Chopper was talking about. Just behind the other pirates, just coming over the horizon, in fact, was a massive galleon, a real warship with the Marine mark on its sails. Its heavier guns fired as it came, sailing closer and closer. The ship had full sails on so that it could close the distance with the ostensibly faster sailing pirate vessels.

And, as Luffy looked, he could barely make out a single head of pink hair racing here and there. "It looks as if Hina's over there. Thankfully, I didn't see any sign of Smokey, at least," he said, shaking his head.

"Yeah," Zoro muttered, not even turning in that direction. "But there's even more trouble over here."

Even as he smashed aside a few cannonballs, Luffy turned in that direction while Zoro turned his own attention back to a few cannonballs coming their way, slicing them into pieces while hopping in the air.

Scowling, Luffy saw what Zoro was talking about. It was another large galleon, not quite as large as the Marine vessel, but large enough, even though it was built to look very crude, as if the vessel had just been made out of huge tree trunks like a massive log raft. But there were dozens of forward facing cannons, which were already firing as the ship came towards them.

Luffy growled, leaping back aft and landing next to Zoro. Cupping his hands, Luffy roared out towards the incoming ship and the large fat man who was sitting on the front of it. "I thought we had an understanding!"

"I was willing to let you go before I found out your new bounty!" the man shouted back, laughing loudly. "After that, how could I not come after you? ZHahhahhah!"

"Eighty-four million is worth the punishment you're going to take here?" Luffy shouted back.

"So you don't know," the man replied, holding up the bounty posters one after another. "Monkey D. Luffy, you're worth a hundred and thirty million! Pirate Hunter Zoro, you're worth eighty-five million! Hell cook Sanji, eighty million! Devil Child Nico Robin, seventy-nine million…and unknown female pirate, ten million."

"Unknown female pirate," Nami muttered, having heard that despite being down in the ship's gun deck. "Should I feel insulted or happy that they don't know my name?"

"It depends on whether or not you like chibi-fied pictures, I think," Robin said, having created an eye on the aft of the ship to see the wanted posters. "They're still using a deformed picture for Sanji too."

"A hundred and thirty million," Luffy said, thrusting a hand up in the air. "How ya like that!?"

"Eighty five million's not so bad, but I bet my next increase will be better than yours," Zoro muttered, scowling a bit. Then he absentmindedly sliced a cannonball coming towards their ship in half as he hopped back into the air.

"Hah, you wish! I'm the captain of this crew, Zoro, and that means my bounty will always be larger!" Luffy shot back.

"Eighty million's okay, but God dammit, why haven't they replaced that picture!" Sanji muttered, raced over to take a look at his picture.

"I don't know. I think it suits you perfectly, Aho-cook," Zoro replied.

Makino's voice roared out just then from the crow's next. "Excuse me, gentlemen! We are in the middle of a fight, so please save your dick measuring contests for later!"

The three young men looked suitably chastened at that, and Sanji raced back to his previous position. Luffy, however, stood by Zoro, his anger flaring as he smirked, cracking his knuckles. The other pirate vessels wouldn't amount to much of a fight. Once they got close enough, Zoro and he could deal with them. In fact, the only reason why they weren't already doing so was the monkeys' warning that the Knockup Stream could come at any moment. "If you want my bounty, you come in trying to take it!"

A second later Hina's voice roared out over the waves and cannon fire. "Hina angry! You Pirates shouldn't forget about me! Straw Hat Luffy, you are under arrest!"

As the giant Marine galleon moved forward, two of the pirate ships it had been attacking from directly astern slowly sank into the waters, and she began to bellow orders as one other tried desperately to pile on sail and turn away, its sides ravaged and obviously out of the fight. "Port side, target that large, primitive looking galleon! Starboard side, target those other two larger vessels to the front of the _Resolve_! All cannons fire at will and keep the ship on this course!"

From then on there were no more words exchanged as the ships continued to exchange fire. One more pirate vessel went down to the _Resolve,_ while two more couldn't get by the monkey vessels, pulled aside from their main objective to join that snarling bit of combat thanks to Masira's sonic attacks. None of those vessels had sunk just yet, but that wasn't for lack of trying. The two monkey men had pulled off five of the attacking pirate vessels towards them, and, if not for the arrival of the Marines, that would probably have been more than enough to even the odds against the _Resolve,_ given the nature of its crew, except for the fact that its crew had their feet nailed to the ground, waiting for the Knockup Stream.

"Dammit!" Luffy muttered, smashing a cannon ball back towards the large ungainly vessel where it impacted hard on one its oddly shaped prow, shattering the wood and silencing one of the cannons there. Despite all he and the others could do, their ship was taking a pounding, and he was worried that the splinters would hurt Nami, Makino, or Robin badly.

In fact, both Makino and Robin had taken injuries by this point, but thanks to Robin and her hands, the flying bits of debris hadn't hurt them severely just yet. She had eyes everywhere now, down below, and hands ready and waiting to push people out of the way. It wasn't elegant, but it worked, although it probably wouldn't if this fight continued. Makino hadn't timed her use of Tekkai, and even used her Haki a time or two in order to take musket shots, but none of the attacking ships could aim up toward the crow's nest.

For their part, the larger enemy galleon had taken a lot of fire from the Marine ship, but seemed to simply ignore it, not firing back. Luffy wondered why that was, but didn't really have time to get high enough to look. Nor was it firing back against the Marine ship, though that, at least, might be because it had all its cannons facing forward from the front of the 'log raft.'

To one side, Chopper grunted, taking another cannonball on his Guard Point and shaking his head. "They're going to overwhelm us soon!" he shouted. If there was fear in his voice, none of his listeners commented.

"Yeah, I can see that," Luffy muttered, staring at the Marine vessel as it came closer and closer. "Dammit, who would've thought coming out here early would be a bad thing!"

On his ship, Blackbeard laughed, shouting down into the ship. "That's right, Augur! Pour it on; we're nearly there. Once we're close enough to grapple, this fight is over!"

He twisted his hand in the direction of the Marine ship, and a cannonball changed direction, coming towards his hand where it was absorbed into a black vortex once more. With that threat dealt with, he glared up at the sky. "What the heck? What's with the clouds?"

Unseen by anyone, the sky had clouded over severely above them, almost looking like a solid form now. The only one who had noticed anything unusual was Nami, and she stumbled up onto the deck as fast as she could. She had taken some hits to one of her legs, and a piece of splintered bark was stuck in her ankle, with another near her knee. "Everyone, it's time! I can feel the water shifting below us; the Knockup Stream is coming!"

Luffy, who had basically taken over the port side from Sanji, who had then moved to help Chopper, nodded. He instantly turned and lashed out hard at the chain of the back anchor with a sharp Rankyaku. At the front of the ship, Zoro did the same with one of his swords before both men hopped their way back onto the deck of the _Resolve_.

The next few moments were tense, with Luffy and his crew now even more on the defensive and taking more punishment. The last of the other pirate vessels had broken off, too badly battered to matter much, but that left the Blackbeard Pirates and the Marines, closing. It was the Marines who were the closest, though. They hadn't taken as much fire at from the pirates, having come upon them from behind as they did, and their sails had been set to full for the entire fight, pushing them forward faster than the other vessel could go.

"Here it comes!" Nami shouted as he stared over the side of the ship, seeing a boiling pressure building up in the water underneath them.

Luffy nodded, then roared out "Rankyaku!" as he aimed to kick towards the Marine ship, aiming to cut one of its masts.

However, Hina leaped into the air, intersecting the attack with one of her locks, but not enough. A piece of the attack sliced into the galleon's other mast's sails, slicing them away cleanly. That slowed them just enough so that, instead of slamming into the _Resolve_ 's center, it struck forward. This pushed the ship off its former position at an angle, but the troops ready with grapnels faced Luffy's Rankyaku at close range and Zoro's air attacks. They ducked backwards, the ship's side and many of their grapnels sliced into deeply, while Hina could only block so many.

They were still alive, but they weren't in position to do anything when Robin suddenly shouted. "Mil Fleur: Push!" From the side of the _Resolve_ thousands of hands appeared to merge into one giant hand, thrusting out hard against the Marine ship.

An instant later, the Knockup Stream at last fired off. The sea below the two ships and right before the large pirate galleon boiled and suddenly blasted upwards with all the force of a cannon the size of an island.

"Holy shitttt!" Luffy shouted, grabbing onto the side of the ship as it started to stand directly upright on the spout of water. They weren't on the stream's direct center, the middle of the spout, though, and the ship slowly began to slide down it.

Nami, feeling the wind in her face, grinned for a moment despite the pain of her leg, then cried out. "Everyone to the sails!"

The boys all looked at her in shock, and she grinned. "This is a stream, and any stream can be navigated. And who's the navigator on this ship?!"

Sanji grinned and shouted, "Nami-swan is!"

At the same time Luffy laughed, leaping upwards towards the sails as he roared out, "That's my navigator!"

Nearby, the Marine vessel was having a far worse time of it. Even if its head on charge had smashed the pirate vessel out of its former position, it too was well off the center of the Knockup Stream, and it was far heavier. It also didn't have the wings the _Resolve_ did. Within seconds it was in danger of falling off the Knockup Stream entirely.

Hina, however, saw this and raced to the center of her deck. "Open Iron Maiden!" she howled, her hands flashing out. Two strands of metal locks lashed out from her legs, clamping her like a limpet to the main mast. From her hands came two large metal waves, as much like wings made out of restraints as she could make them. Portions spread out along the rail as the rest flowed out, trying to act like the wings like she'd seen on the pirate vessel. _I'd wondered about those. Now I know what they're doing, or rather, a portion of it, anyway! Can't think about it now; must save the ship._

"Trim the sails, cut away that sail that was cut and its fellow. Navigator, listen to the navigator on the pirate ship and correct for our position!" she shouted out even as her body began to cry out in agony at the strain she was under. Locking herself down to the galleon and creating wings at the same time was far beyond what she normally did with her powers, and worse, it was also tugging at her body, which she could not change entirely into shackles. "Hina determined! We have to survive this before we can restart this fight!"

"Yes, ma'am!" shouted the Marines all around her.

They were scared but took courage from their captain's orders just as the rest of the Straw Hats followed Nami's. Below the two ships, the ocean started to disappear behind them as they kept climbing this impromptu stream to heaven, ascending now completely perpendicular to the ground below.

 **End Chapter**

* * *

To me, Jaya is only interesting in that it is a stepping-stone to what I feel is one of the two best arcs in One Piece, Skypiea. Not a single fight in Jaya canon was at all interesting, and much of it only really happened because Nami demanded that Luffy and Zoro not fight. Not going to happen here for a myriad of reasons that Luffy spoke of briefly. However, Blackbeard is, of course, an interesting character in many ways, and I hope I showed his conniving, planning side here as well as his very selective concept of a pirate's code. Also hope that it doesn't take as long before this story wins in the small story poll again, LOL. As always, please review!


	16. Chapter 16

Stallion16

For the small story polls this month was GDWHOM. It brought in 1186 votes total from here and over on patty r on. In second place goes to Stallion, with 886 total votes. But because I had two scenes of it already written, I was able to get it out on time (or close enough to count LOL.) But given how long FILFy took to finish and then edit once my beta readers got back to me, plus family time taking out three whole days (Love my family, but GAAAA) I wasn't able to finish GDWHOM on time. Look for it in the next two days or maybe three if RL decides to like me in the naughty way again.

In third place nipping at Stallion's heels was Fate Touched. With the votes here on fanfic and my own votes added in it brought in 875! So freaking close. In a distant fourth was Semblance bringing in only 341 total votes total. Which is a pity, considering I think of all my fics it and _Anything Goes Game Changer_ are the two fics I can bring to an end most quickly.

And here is the first chapter of what I hope will be the best arc in this work so far, since the original was one of my favorites. I hope you all enjoy my version of this tale.

This has only been edited by myself and _Hiryo_ , who specializes in Ranma/One Piece spelling issues and other mistakes rather than grammar/word choice. So there will no doubt be mistakes.

* * *

 **Chapter 16: Heaven Ain't a Place on Earth**

Luffy cursed as the spray off the Knockup Stream turning Luffy back into a girl. But as he worked the rudder at Nami's direction, this irritation faded under the awed shock he was feeling towards what they were doing. Thanks to Nami and the modifications to the ship, they were somehow navigating along the side of the Knockup Stream, heading straight upwards at a 90° angle straight. Under Nami's orders they had shifted the sails so that the wind pushed on the ship in such a way as to push the _Resolve_ against the water, which carried them straight upwards.

It wasn't easy, for either his crew or their ship, and more than once he'd heard something creak alarmingly. Despite Robin's last-minute defense the _Resolve_ had been battered off their perfect position on the stream's top by the larger marine galleon's ramming them in the final minutes of the battle they'd just left far below, and now they were paying for it.

Even as she continued following Nami's orders, Luffy thought about that, and smiled. _That must've been the largest construct Robin's ever created. Our trainings already had an impact!_ A glance to the left of his own ship though brought Luffy's attention back to what they were doing.

To one side of the smaller schooner,the marine galleon was having a lot of trouble. Every second or so the ship would yaw one way or the other, or be in danger of lifting off the stream as gravity attempted to reassert its control over the wind's attempt to push them against the water of the stream. Their navigator was not nearly as good as Nami even working off her shouted calculations. Yet even so, it was obvious to Luffy that it was only Nami's continued orders and corrections that were keeping both ships from falling down to a thunderous death far below. She waited until Nami paused in shouting orders to mention that, "slapping the other girl encouragingly on the shoulder. "You're doing great, keep at it!"

Nami nodded, her head twisted towards the wind before she barked out orders towards Sanji and Chopper. Zoro was elsewhere on the ship, helping Makino and Robin down. Thanks to suddenly going ninety degrees to the direction, it had been laying in before many of the cannons had been smashed loose of their lines, and needed someone down below who could tie them down. Luffy also vaguely remembered Robin shouting something about them taking on water, a few minutes ago, but she trusted her first mate and the rest of her crew to see to that.

"What about them?" Nami asked during the next lull, gesturing over towards the marine ship.

Luffy glanced over, and asked, "You think they're going to make it?"

"I don't know. Their ships are a lot tougher than ours I think, more metal in its hull. But they're out of position and if not for those wings that Captain Hina created, they'd already have fallen."

"Keep at it, and keep an eye on them I suppose," Luffy said. "I might not like Marines, but they don't deserve to die like this for just following orders."

"One way or another it'll be over soon!" Nami replied, before going back to shouting orders as the air flow changed slightly, necessitating the sails to be changed to match.

Ahead of them Luffy saw what Nami had meant, for there loomed the massive cloud that was their destination, covering the sky from one end to another, the Knockup Stream entering it to the creation of thousands of squares of steam. "Well… Shit," Luffy muttered.

 **OOOOOOO**

Below Blackbeard sat on one of the pieces of his shattered ship to one side of the Knockup Stream, while around him his crew clung to their own bits of jetsam. Their ship had been half on and half off the Knockup Stream, and the force of the impact had just about shattered half their ship. "That was interesting," he said at last, staring up at the massive spray of water that was carrying his chosen prey and the Marine warship up like so many leaves in a gale.

"How can you say that captain?! Our ship's been smashed, and our prey's gotten away," Burgess shouted from where he clung like a limpet to a large piece of outer hull.

"ZAHAHAAH, mah, calm down Burgess," captain said with a laugh. "If it was our fates to catch them here we would have, and it is our fates to meet them again we will. There is no point in getting angry about it."

"Indeed," Augur cut in. He was sitting sedately on the remains of the crow's nest and was actually dry unlike all the others as he stared upwards through his monocle. "This world moves to the dictates of the strong. Luck itself can be thought of as a strength but it can only take them so far after."

"ZAHAHAHAH, well said. Now," Blackbeard went on, pointing to the nearest pirate ship that was still afloat. This luckily for the Saruyama Alliance this wasn't one of their ships. Rather, it was one of the ones that was still barely afloat from the pounding it had taken from the marines on their pell-mell charge towards the _Resolve_. "Let's go commandeer that ship and get back to land. I want me some grog!"

 **OOOOOOO**

About 15 minutes after the Knockup Stream had begun, Luffy stared ahead of them at the incoming cloud of seastone infused clouds, which was looking a lot denser from this close than a cloud really should be. "Brace for impact!" she roared, looking over at Nami whose eyes had just widened.

In a split second, she grabbed Nami and pushed Nami down between Luffy's legs and the wheel, holding her there with her legs while still steering the wheel. Up in the rigging, Chopper and Sanji both tied themselves to the masts, watching in shock a as the oncoming wall of white cloud came towards them, the Knockup Stream smashing into and through it ahead of them carrying the ships in with it. They thankfully had also all breathed in, so when they hit the water on the other side of the clouds they were able to get through it.

A second later the ship knifed into and through into the other side. As Luffy had known it would thanks to Cricket, the interior of the cloud was quite dense on the underside thanks to the gaseous version of seastone that went into their creation. Above that was an area that was almost like the ocean, only not quite because the Knockup Stream was still powerful enough to keep the ship going through it. Eventually it pushed the two ships up and out where they landed on the surface of this new, strange ocean.

The _Resolve_ was pushed out directly on its aft end and then as the power of the Knockup Stream dissipated, slowly came down onto its keel with a mighty splash. The impact jarred even Luffy's teeth for a moment, but then it was over, and Luffy pushed herself away from the wheel and Nami to stare around in all.

The sun was brighter here, but Luffy could already tell it was slightly cooler here, and the air was far thinner, much thinner than Luffy had ever felt in this world before this, both of which made sense given how high they were. And all around them was an ocean of white. The top of the cloud cover looked almost like an ocean made of fluffy cloud, which their ship gently settled down into as Luffy looked around. It really did look like a slice of the Catholic version of Heaven and the redhead shook her head. "God I love the Grand Line!"

Then she shook her head, pulling her hat away from her neck where it had fallen as she felt something squirming underneath it against her back. She pulled out some kind of fish, and stared at it. "A flatfish. Weird looking sucker aren't you?"

"It's possibly evolved to live in this ocean like any fish down on the normal sea would have, having a greater size and being so flat would probably allow you to deal with the fact the ocean here isn't as dense as the one we are used to," Robin's voice said from one side. As Luffy turned towards her, Robin took the fish from the shorter girl, holding it her in her hands as she examined it with amused delight clear on her face. That was possibly the most honest open expression of simple delight Luffy had ever seen on her crewmate's face, and Luffy could feel a smile widening over her own face.

Behind Robin came Makino and Zoro. The swordsman looked a little weary, but he held up a thumb towards Luffy. "The ship still in one piece generally speaking captain, we took a pounding, and a lot of our cannons were damaged and tossed out of their runs, and we took on a lot of water, especially forward, but we're still seaworthy. That martial arts constructions trick you taught me worked really damn well."

Luffy nodded at that, then they all looked to one side as the marine galleon burst out of the water nearby. It too came out like a whale bursting out of the water, but unlike the _Resolve_ , it slowly started to capsize as it came down. When it slammed down side on, its masts snapped with a horrible cracking noise, and the wings that had helped propel it along the Knockup Stream disappeared instantly as a cry of pain was heard, audible over the rest of the shouts, cracks and various other noises of the disaster.

"Shit!" Luffy grumbled before shaking her head. The one thing Luffy still had from his time as Ranma, was an urge to protect people. If they had still been fighting him, he would've let the ship capsize. But here, now, they were just sailors, sailors who were going to drown. "Sanji, Zoro with me, Makino, Chopper, get ready for the wounded, Robin, Nami, check the ship for more damage and get some planks up to block the entrances down into the ship."

With that, Luffy leaped up into the air, and used Geppo to head over to the ship. It was a lot tougher than it should've been, and he had to compensate a few times, the air being so much thinner and even Luffy was feeling a bit out of breath after only a few hops. Behind her, Luff heard Sanji curse, the chef nearly falling into the water. A second later Zoro did fall in, before kicking out of it rapidly, moving towards the Marine ship with his captain.

Luffy gripped the side of the ship, her muscles bulging as she slowly twisted the entire ship around, trying to set it up right again, roaring out to the others to cut the sales off, so they didn't drag. Soon the redhead had the ship upright, to the shock and awe of many of the Marines who clung to it.

But that didn't stop many of them from pulling out guns, pistols for the most part, and aiming at Luffy and the others as they landed. Luffy just ignored them though, shouting orders still. "Sanji, you're the best swimmer, get in the water!"

"Right!" Sanji said, canceling his technique and plummeting down into the water, and soon tossing Marines who had been close to drowning a moment ago up onto the side of the ship.

"Where's Hina?" Luffy asked looking at the Marines. She ducked under a bullet from one of them, catching it as it flew through her former position and then dropping it to one side glaring at the marines. "You people are no goddamn position to fight. If I wanted ya all dead, I would've just let your ship the way it was and left ya all here!"

"Damn you pirate!" shouted one of them. He was pink haired man with large knuckledusters bolted to his knuckles. He looked vaguely familiar to Luffy, though she couldn't for the life of her think of where she'd seen him before. _Meh, must not be that important then._ "We'll never surrender to you or your captain Luffy!"

The man, a lieutenant by his ranks tabs, stood in front of the unconscious body of Hina, who lay like she was dead against one of the masts. She had been drenched by the water of this odd ocean as she was pushing her power to the greatest level she could, which had cancelled the technique and her body, in particular her arms, had taken a tremendous amount of strain. She also had a head wound, blood pooling from a nasty cut underneath her hair to cover half of her face in a wet watery liquid.

The lieutenant's words seem to bolster the Marines, even those who had looked grateful for the assistance now grabbing up cutlasses and pistols. "That's right Lieutenant Fullbody, we won't give in to any pirates!"

It looked as if they were going to charge Luffy until a shout came from below. "We're taking on water!"

Luffy looked at them all pointedly, crossing her arms. "Either accept our help, or drown here!"

Still glaring at him, Fullbody turned slightly away to shout out "How bad is it!"

"We're losing ground quickly sir!" shouted a panicked voice. "We, we can't stop it!"

Fullbody's fists clenched and unclenched for a time, then he's shook his head with a side. "Dammit. We surrender. With that, he turned and pointed at several of his marines. "Get over the side and see if you can put some canvas over the hull, find where the water's coming in! The rest of you, split into two groups, one head down to help bail us out, the other start moving the supplies up here."

"Food first," Luffy said moving forward to help with a few of the wounded. 'And you better cut out your doctors from the rest of your crew to care for the wounded. Let's start transfer wounded over to the _Resolve_."

"See to captain Hina first," Fullbody ordered.

In the water, Sanji looked at the other Marines who had doped down to try and do what they could to plug the hole in the hull. "Fuck," one of them muttered, shaking his head. "The damn keel's been broken!"

When they had dived down into the ocean, the marines had found that the keel hadn't been broken so much as shattered in numerous places. The keel itself was broken, and numerous other plates had been utterly shattered. The water flowing in was slowly tearing off a portion of the forward structure.

"Life is shitty sometimes," Sanji said philosophically.

"I seriously need a fucking smoke after this," said another marine treading water next to them.

"That we can agree on," Sanji said, right before there was a scream from nearby, and the waters around them began to thrash as something huge surged up towards them.

At the same time, Luffy, who had been transporting wounded back to the _Resolve_ , was pulled aside by Robin between trips. "Are you sure about this? You do know that Marines and Pirates are natural enemies? Their relief at our saving their lives won't last long. Further, they will have at least a few who realize who I am, painting and even larger target on your back, while others will think they can take the ship away from us. Just locking and barring the doors won't be enough."

"No I'm not certain," Luffy said with a shrug. "But I can't exactly let them drown when I can save them. That would be downright evil. IN a fight I could kill them, even if I'd be reluctant to do it," he went on reluctantly. "But now that the battles over and we've won? No."

Robin scowled shaking her head. "You're too kind for your own good." _Still, it was that kindness that led Luffy to take on Crocodile, and to let me join Luffy's crew I suppose._ "So long as none of them try anything, I suppose I'll go along with things."

"The marines won't try anything. Just look at them Robin," Luffy said gesturing towards the wounded and the others who were coming aboard slowly from a cutter that the Marines had been able to save before the pirates arrived. Several others were dumped aboard by Zoro, carrying them over like so many sacks of wheat.

To a man the group of marines were bedraggled, bruised, and wounded, tired and shell-shocked. "They're beaten. Helped turn a few of the wounded onto their sides so Chopper could examine them. There was only one other doctor among the marines, an older man named Kyre, who seemed in awe of Chopper' medical skills. The two of them had already seen to the most seriously wounded, as well as Hina, at a speed most medical teams would have had trouble matching.

The work on the wounded was nearly done when one marine, who had scrambled up the _Resolve_ 's mainmast, shouted down from the crow's nest. "There's some other ship out there! I, it looks like a large Galleon, I…" he broke off in a gasp, as the ship exploded. The sound didn't carry far enough, but he saw the flash, and then saw the ship coming apart. "What the flying fuck?"

Luffy looked up at him quizzically, having been helping set the arm of a wounded man next to Chopper, who didn't look up from where he was working on another wounded man's leg. "Speak clearly man!" he shouted up at the look out. "What's going on?"

At the brusque order from the pirate, the man stiffened but replied professionally. "I spotted a large galleon out there, but before I could spot too many details, it exploded. It seems to have been under attack by something small. Someth…erm, someone, who um, who is zooming along the water, and um, is wearing some kind of bull mask sir," the Marine finished, his tone hesitant, though whether that was from what he was saying or addressing a pirate as sir (or indeed a woman as sir) Ranma couldn't tell and didn't care about.

"Where away?" Luffy asked, taking that in stride. It wouldn't be the most unusual thing Luffy had seen in this world after all.

Once Luffy learned the direction she hopped into the air, then made her way forward towards the contact, hovering in the air her arms crossed as she glared in that direction. Sure enough, Luffy saw what looked like some kind of primitive warrior with a giant bazooka of some kind on one arm, a shield on the other, and a large mask that made him look like some kind of bull. The most interesting thing though was that he was using a pair of skates that allowed him to zoom over the ocean's waves at a speed well above that of a normal ship. Indeed, he was moving so fast, Luffy would more liken it to the speed of running horse than any ship on water in this world. _Damn me if that don't look like some kind of Jet Ski Boots! Awesome. I might have to steal those if this guy proves to be an enemy._

Zoro too moved over, once more wearing all three of his swords. As the bull got closer, Luffy shouted "Oy, what's your business with us? State your intentions!"

In reply the man in the bull mask shouted, "I will reject you!" A second later, he raised his bazooka to point towards the _Resolve_. A large beam of something that looked like heated and compressed gas of some kind, looking almost like a flamethrower but not quite, flashed towards the ship.

At that, Luffy swiftly raised his hands and sent out two Rankyaku attacks, impacting the incoming attack from the bazooka. This barely worked to deflect the attack down into the water that steamed and hissed, covering Bull-mask's continued advance for a brief moment.

"Spread out in a staggered defense, don't let that attack hit the ship!" Luffy ordered, and Zoro pushed himself back towards the ship, while Sanji leaped out to join the defense and the marines started to panic along with Nami, Chopper and even Makino. Fire like that against a wooden hulled ship would be a true nightmare, especially if it hit their stored gunpowder.

Of course, this didn't do anything but tire them out all the faster, given the lack of air. Not a single one of the marines looked fit to fight, and Nami and Chopper weren't much better despite their lack of strenuous activity up to this point. Makino was at least doing something, having pulled out a few pistols and stationed herself on the starboard side of the ship facing the incoming attacker.

Robin however simply cocked her head to one side, thinking. "Mah, I wonder if that attack will flash fry our bodies quickly enough so that we don't have time to feel pain before we die, or if it will simply destroy the ship and send us all to a watery grave?"

"So scary!" Chopper shrieked, while at the same time Nami and Makino roared, "Don't say such things with such a calm tone Robin!"

Luffy charged forward into the water vapor trying to guess where the Bull-masked man was, and found herself bouncing right over the water directly in front of the man. Both of their vision was badly obscured, but the man's instincts served him well, and the instant he saw a shape in front of them he lashed out with another blast from the bazooka, which would have caught Luffy in the legs.

In return Luffy roared and lashed out with both hands so fast she created shock waves in the air, much like a Rankyaku attack only far less contained and shaped. The fists of air smashed the attack further down, creating an explosion of hot water in every direction.

This triggered Luffy's change while the man cursed and backed away, portions of his skin scalded by the hot water. Luffy followed, and the two burst out of the steam racing forward of and around the _Resolve_. Luffy caught up to him, but the man turned and not even noticing Luffy's change lashed out with a palm strike, his palm having some odd wrapping around it. Luffy ducked backwards, smacking the hand to one side as he brought his leg up in a kick that caught the edge of the bull mask, shattering it and throwing the man away.

Bull Mask bounced a few times off the surface of the water before righting himself. He tried to turn towards the ship rather than Luffy, only to face Zoro, who had been shifting his position around the ship to match the fight.

Now he attacked, getting in close, his sort out in flashing as he hopped past the man. Bull Mask's shield was sliced in two but the man had been able to dodge the blow from Zoro's sword, and the swordsman took a kick into the side of the head as he passed, which upended him into the water. Zoro then had to deal with a few sharks that thought he looked tasty and hadn't fled the area yet from the earlier attacks Luffy had sent into the ocean. With Luffy racing up behind him Bull Mask roared on, now firing at the _Resolve_ with his bazooka.

Sanji got in the way shouting, "You dare point your weapon at ladies! Tekkai, Leg!" Twirling, he brought a leg around into the beam of plasma, shouting "Tekkai!" as he did. Moving like that while using Tekkai was difficult, but Sanji had perfected the ability to harden a single limb, a preparatory move to using Busoshoku, Armament Haki. It wasn't a patch on truly using Haki, but it was still enough to smash the attack aside from the _Resolve_.

And then Luffy was back in the fight, crashing down on top of the man with a kick the man didn't even see coming. It slammed into the man's shoulder, hurling him sideways with a cry of agony to once more bounce off the top of the waters before righting himself. This finally seemed to break the man from his single-minded attack, and he growled angrily raising his bazooka again and tossing away his ruined shield, fishing out a long dagger to use in his other hand. But then he spotted something up in the sky and scowled, twisting away and racing off over the ocean faster than any of the others could follow. "This is not your land, Blue Sea Landers! You would do well to remember that!"

"Come back and say that to my face coward!" Luffy roared, before turning his own gaze skywards to the thing the man had spotted a second ago.

Flying down towards their ship, like a bolt from a crossbow was a large bird flew carrying someone completely clad in plate mail armor wielding a lance. As the attacker moved off the bird slowed its descent, until it hovered in the air above Luffy for a moment. This allowed Luffy to see the man in armor was an old man, thin, almost gaunt, but spry with a long white beard down to his stomach. He nodded politely to Luffy, then moved on towards the ship, where the bird alighted on the prow.

There he waited for Luffy, Zoro and Sanji to join him, smiling and bowing to the ladies there as he looked around the ship with keen eyes. "That was most impressive Blue Lander," he said to Luffy. "The number of your people that can fight so well upon their arrival here on our White Sea is very small. The atmosphere seems to get to most of you."

"It did to us too, at least at first, but my crew at least have already gotten over it or will soon," Luffy said with a snort.

"Really?" the older man asked sweatdropping slightly. He would normally have questioned a statement like that, but since the man in front of him had chased off the man in the bull mask, who the old man knew of as a very tough opponent he let it slide. "Ahahah, I see. Well, at any rate introductions are in order, I am the Knight of the Sky."

"Monkey D. Luffy, captain of the pirate ship _Resolve_ , and this is my crew," Ranma said, gesturing to his crew, all of whom had crowded forward. Chopper seemed in awe of the knight, staring at his armored form with sparkling eyes. Robin was simply looking at him speculatively while Nami and Makino were more voluble, thanking the man for his help in defusing the recent fight. Zoro and Sanji just nodded at the old man when introduced.

At the same time the marines down on the main deck finally seemed to realize that yes, their eyes hadn't been playing tricks on them, they had indeed seen Ranma change forms a moment ago. Many of them began to gag, while Fullbody just smacked his head several times with his metal clad knuckles.

Turning to them Ranma scowled, waving the old man to silence. "Alright you lot! Let's get this out of the way right now! Yes, I'm the same redhead as before. I was exposed to a freaky Devil Fruit when I was younger, and I change gender when wet, cold changes me into a girl, hot into a boy. It's a secret, and I will make keeping it a secret part of the agreement I'll make with your captain when she recovers for your safe passage to the nearest island."

"What!? That's just like a damn pirate, trying to get something out of us in a situation like this!" shouted Fullbody, getting over his shock and revulsion at Ranma's curse to glare at him.

"OY!" Zoro growled, pawing at Wado and his other blades, feeling the bloodlust of Kitetsu but ignoring it. "You lot were the ones chasing us down below, you started the fight and we would've been well within our rights to let you all drown! My captain's kindness saved your lives, remember that!"

"True. We could have let all you stinking men drown after saving the lovely Captain Hina," Sanji said coolly, blowing out a smoke ring. "Or do you really think you lot could have survived on a pair of dinghies in this sea without knowing anything about where you are, where to go or what you might be facing?"

As the marines grumbled amongst themselves, the Knight of the sky chuckled. "I see. This is the remainder of two competing ships crews? And you lost one of your ships? Still, that is to be expected from going up the Knockup Stream."

"Wait?" Nami said, almost glaring at him. "The way you're talking, that makes me think there's some other way some normal way of getting up here. Is that true?"

"Of course there is," the older man said with another chuckle.

"You see Luffy!" Nami shouted reaching over and tugging at Luffy's pigtail, causing Robin to frown slightly as Nami tugged at Luffy's hair. "There was no reason to go up the Knockup Stream!"

Luffy took it stoically, looking back at the old man who continued laughing, even as he interjected. "Ah my dear, wait, wait. Tell me, how many people did you lose?"

"I didn't lose anyone," Luffy said with a smirk, pulling away from Nami before sighing and gesturing over to the Marines. "They lost some people though. How many did you all lose?" he asked Fullbody.

"We lost two dead in the fight below," Fullbody said with a growl. "Lots of wounded, I think we lost six overboard in the Knockup Stream. We lost a few more when the ship capsized though, crushed inside by falling debris and cannons being smashed out of their lines."

And if not for Chopper and his medical knowledge, they would have lost far more than that in the end, something both Fullbody and Luffy knew. Chopper had performed miracles in the last few minutes, and was even now heading back down to resume his work among the wounded, leaving the discussion with the old man to the others, but near enough to listen in.

The man nodded gravely bowing and clapping his hands as he offered his condolences while Luffy and the pirates simply nodded. "Still, that is far less than you would have lost if you went any other way. Most of the time when people from the Blue Sea come up to the White Sea, they will lose at least half of their crew in the attempt."

The Marines grumbled at that, since all told they'd lost about a third of their crew thanks to the fight and the Knockup Stream. But the old man went on looking at them thoughtfully looking directly at the marines and in particular the still unconscious Hina and Fullbody. "You all wear a uniform however, might I ask what that signifies?"

"We are Marines!" said Fullbody, proudly, standing up straight and crossing his arms, actually flexing his muscles, as if anyone there would have been impressed by such. "We serve the World Government and justice!"

"I see," the old man went on, looking at Fullbody thoughtfully. "However, you should know that you have no jurisdiction up here. No nation on the White Sea has ever joined this World Government of yours. The only law in this territory is God's words. You would do well to remember that."

"God?" Luffy asked frowning, while Fullbody and the other marines scowled or grumbled. "What do you mean by God?"

The man turned away, saying nothing more as he leaped back up onto his bird. "I had thought to offer my aid, but it seems as if your crews is strong enough to get by for at least a little while without it. Still, I will leave this as a service," he said, tossing a whistle to Nami who caught it quickly.

It wasn't made of steel, but some kind of stone to her surprise. "Blow on that, and I will hear it, or birds will pass on word to my steed, and I will come to aid you at need."

"Ara, that was almost poetic," Robin murmured.

"He's a poet, and didn't know it," Luffy whispered back, with a smirk on his face. Robin let loose a little giggle at that before their attention was brought back to the Knight of the Sky.

"By the way, has anyone ever heard of the legend of Pegasus?" the man asked with a grin.

"The horse that can fly?" Robin asked. "Of course." Nami too answered in the affirmative, as did Makino, both looking on in interest.

"Indeed! My bird Pierre ate the Pegasus fruit, and can thus change his form! Behold!" The pink polka-dotted bird changed under his rider's verbal command, but the new form…wasn't what the girls had hoped for. Yes, it was a horse, but it looked more like a donkey, with wide, rather nasty looking nostrils, big teeth, and it retained the rather silly looking pink with black polka dots look the bird had.

The others sweatdropped at the sight, and Nami groaned. "There goes one girlhood dream."

For his part despite his earlier moment of levity, Luffy was rather irritated as the old man ascended into the sky. "He could have given us more information you know! I'm almost tempted to blow that whistle now and demand some more answers."

"OH hell no!" Nami shouted, pointing at him angrily.

"That would be a very bad use of a one-time item. In fact, I put forth the motion that Luffy, Zoro and Sanji are not to be allowed to even touch it. It should stay with me, Nami or Chopper, the three weakest on this crew." Makino said. She would have honestly put her strength above Robin in a one on one contest, but was dealing with some issues mentally about how high they currently were. That, and Robin had shown marked improvement in the last few days, and moreover, wasn't the type to call for help in the first place.

"Oy! What about us!" Fullbody said.

"Are you saying you're weaker than little old me?" Nami asked, posing sexily one finger on her pouting lips.

"Indeed, surely you big, strong marine men are stronger than us?" Makino asked, cocking her head to one side, letting her green hair fall down to cover that side of her face, an image of more adult beauty, which also came across as more innocent than Nami's display.

That shut up the marines to a man, causing many of them to blush and look away, mumbling as they turned away, starting to see to their clothing, gear or the wounded. Sanji however roared out, leaping among the unwounded marines and kicking out in a rage. "You bastards don't you dare sully Nami-swan or Makino-chwan with those dirty eyes of yours!"

The marines instantly started to fight back with Fullbody roaring "Oh that's rich coming from you Flirt Cook! You might not remember me but I sure as hell remember you messing up my date at the Baratie!"

With that objection dealt with, Luffy and Robin turned back to look at the whistle in Nami's hand. A few of the wounded marines stared between them and the ongoing beatdown Sanji was dishing out, sweatdrops dripping down their heads at how blasé they seemed to be at the ongoing violence.

Indeed, Luffy and the others had something else entirely on their minds. "Personally I do not like the way he spoke then clamped up on this God issue," Robin spoke up first, a frown on her face. "Do you think he was speaking about a person rather than religiously?"

"What's that mean?" Chopper asked innocently from where he had begun to work on extracting a piece of shrapnel.

Robin smiled. "Essentially, I was simply wondering if God was simply a title given to their ruler or if the locals were truly following a set of laws laid out by what they think of God. There have been numerous countries in history that have given their leaders both religious and secular titles."

"The whole 'chosen by god' thing kind of makes more sense if you can also claim to be the head of the religion of your realm I guess," Luffy said with a scoff.

"Well whatever," Sanji said, turning from the battered forms of Fullbody and several other marines, turning back to what he had been doing near the side of the ship when the bull-masked man had shown up. "Help me out here Luffy."

Luffy moved over, and between of the two of them, they pulled the remains of the shark up onto the deck next to the crowd of wounded Marines. None of them had been allowed inside the ship per Luffy's orders, with Makino standing guard over the entrance way into the kitchen until the Bull mask had appeared, and even now she was keeping a close eye on all of them. They weren't going to let the marines know how much gold and other stuff they were carrying right now. They might be helping the Marines, and would even feed them for a time, but they weren't friends or even allies.

While Sanji began to cut the shark into manageable chunks along with a few of the marines Robin took it upon herself to make certain the none of the marines ventured farther from the galley, and Nami figured out which direction to go. She soon had several of the fitter marines up moving under her direction on the sails, while others joined Luffy to help with the repairs, though none of them were really all that useful given how they had to stop every few minutes to catch their breath.

 **OOOOOOO**

"Yo, you're returning early from patrol aren't you Wiper?" a large, overweight man asked of the bull-masked man who had attacked the _Resolve_. He paused as he took in his friend's appearance and shook his head. "What the heck happened to you?"

"Nothing, nothing that will stop me from taking part in tomorrow's attack anyway." The man called Wiper growled, pulling his ruined mask away from his face and tossing it to the side as he entered their village, which itself was hidden under several layers of cloud stuff.

He paused a moment to pull out a cigar and light it, wincing at the movement of his shoulder as he did. That one blow that had landed cleanly had nearly shattered his clavicle and shoulder bones. _If not for my toughening myself up as much as possible to use my secret weapon against God that could well have ended my fighting day's right there._ "Just ran into some strong Blue Sea Dwellers. We'll see if they are smart enough to stay out of our business, but if not, what's one more group of enemies to us?"

 **OOOOOOO**

The sound of hammering slowly woke Hina up from her pain-induced sleep. She looked around groggily, half of her eye being under some kind of bandage, and a small youngish voice she'd heard once before said, "Ah, good you're awake. Bu, ah, but you shouldn't try to move!"

One of her crewmen said "Captain! We didn't expect you to wake up for at least another two hours even after Chopper-san told us you would wake up some time! But I suppose that's Captain Hina for you. Still, don't try to move, you're arms are still…"

Despite their words, Hina first tried to lift her arms, then rolled to the side and heaved herself to her feet, body checking the man she now knew as one of her gunner's mates away. This was hard, since every bone in her arm almost felt as if they had been dislocated, then put back together badly and her arms sent flashes of agony through her at every twitch, but she ignored that too. She was a captain of marines. She would not lie on her back while others looked on.

Standing on her own, she stared first at Fullbody then Luffy who had moved towards her through the crowd or injured and exhausted marines as soon as they notice she was awake. Fullbody looked as if he was about to cry in happiness that his captain was all right, but Luffy was simply looking at her, an odd, almost compassionate look on his face as he looked back at her and shrugged. "Luck of the draw," he said simply.

Hina frowned at that, then shook her head staring around them past the ship now out on to this highly unusual ocean. "Hina has heard rumors of an ocean like this, but to see it in reality, that is something else entirely. Hina shocked." Shaking that observation off, she looked back at Luffy, tensing her body even through the agony it caused. "I take it we are your prisoners then?"

"Nothing so formal as all that, I mean, we don't have enough cells to put you all in. But your ship…" Luffy gestured with one hands towards Hina, who reluctantly followed him to the edge of his own ship, where they saw…nothing. Not a single thing of her ship remained there, not even debris.

"We couldn't save it!" Fullbody said, nearly crying at having failed his captain. "The keel was shattered in multiple places. I'm sorry but…"

Hina glared Fullbody to silence before looking at Luffy, then down at her arms, which were bandaged from the fingertips up to the shoulders and then even under her shirt. Looking back up she asked simply "What are your terms?"

Luffy frowned. He sat down on the edge of the railing, looking at her thoughtfully. "Well first, I'll demand a temporary cease-fire. Your troops all carried pistols and cutlasses, and not a lot of gunpowder. You're no threat to us as you are and that's fact, and we don't want to have to put you all over the side if you try anything."

At that Hina bristled, but nodded, biting back a scowl. The compassion she saw in Luffy's face was worse than hatred would have been and made her feel rather odd. On the one side, she hated seeing a face like that on a pirate. It was as if he was looking down at her in that he was in a position to show compassion to her at all. On the other hand, the fact that he was doing so spoke well of Luffy to her. It was as if she was a sparring partner rather than an enemy, and he wanted to face her at her best rather than her weakest. It was a strange, and not altogether pleasant or unpleasant feeling to be looked at like that.

"So cease-fire, you keep our secrets, and you don't chase us while we're up here, if that is you can get a ship somehow," Luffy continued with a smirk. "That's it. Although seeing as we're well out of your jurisdiction, I guess we shouldn't have to worry about the second one there."

Hina reared back at that, her eyes narrowing angrily, but Fullbody quickly spoke up. "Um captain, one of the locals was nearby and spoke to us. He said that we don't have any jurisdiction up here. 'None of the governments here are part of the World Government,' and for some reason the only law is the word of God up here."

"Religious overtones, ugh," Hina said scowling at that and Luffy nodded, though he hadn't actually gotten that impression. "Still, Justice has no such limit like that."

"Really?" Luffy asked sardonically. "You're chasing me… because you think its justice? That's just stupid. Maybe I should get ya a dictionary so ya can read the definition of that word before ya toss it around."

Hina glared at him. But Luffy calmly began to mark off points on his finger. "While we are flying the pirate flag, we actually haven't done any pillaging. Since you and I met, have you actually seen me do anything? Anything evil I mean? I know you've seen me break the laws of physics occasionally, but I've seen you do the same darn thing, so if you're going to arrest me for that you'd have to arrest yourself."

Hina rolled her eyes, but retorted quickly. "Stealing books from Alabasta? Showing up Smoker by stealing a ship from him? Wiping out a hundred mercenaries? Breaking out of our cordon around Alabasta? Does any of this ring any bells? Beyond that, you're a pirate that is enough."

"You people were the ones to shoot at us when we were trying to get away from Alabasta, don't blame me for defending my crew and my ship," Luffy shot back.

"You nearly killed Vice Admiral Doberman!" Hina retorted

Luffy blinked in surprise. "Wait, you mean he's still alive?! You **idiots** kept him alive after he was going to sacrifice some of your crewmen!"

"Don't joke is if you attacked him so viciously because of that. Hina disbelieving," Hina scoffed.

"I did attack him so viciously because of that," Luffy said coldly, crossing his arms and glaring at her. "He killed two other marines to get at me and it fucking pissed me off. Not even pirates would be alright with that kind of shit." Luffy knew that was over-simplifying things, since a lot of pirates would have done just that, but unless they were strong enough to cow the rest of their crew they would've face a lot of problems afterward.

Hina frowned and looked away. She'd heard that from a few of the survivors who had still been on the ship during that battle before Luffy and Doberman had taken to the sky, but hadn't really wanted to admit that she had officially, since that would call the honor of the marines into question.

She looked at Fullbody and waved him away, sitting down against the balcony. This part she wanted answers on one way or another. "There's also the issue with the Shichibukai Crocodile, and your association with him."

"You mean how I beat the living shit out of him and left him dead on the desert floor?" Luffy asked a wry chuckle. "I didn't have any other relationship with them other than animosity."

Hina looked at him then, after making certain none of her marines were close enough to overhear, slowly spoke again. "I will admit that she is not chasing you for justice's sake. Smoker was chasing you because he thinks you are a threat to world peace. That much I believe I agree with. But I also wanted a piece of you," she said irritably, looking down at her bandaged hands "Hina rematch!"

"Once you're better I wouldn't mind having a spar," Luffy said with a shrug. "You had shown me a few new tricks when we crossed paths during the breakout from the first time we met, that's why I said ya were a better rival than Smoker after all."

"You are a very odd pirate," Hina said with a shake of her head. "But what really happened in Alabasta? Why were you there? What happened to set you and Crocodile against one another? I know that story about you being paid then stealing the treasury of the country blind is a lie."

Luffy looked down at her for a long moment, evaluating Hina then asked slowly, "I can answer that question, but I want your word the tale won't go farther than this. Put it in among the other secrets you'll learn here." Luffy was under no illusion that making Hina promise that would have any effect on her deciding to actually keep Luffy's secrets if she was ordered to give them up. But it might, if those secrets could harm other people needlessly. Hina wasn't a blind automaton, and she had seemed bitter and somewhat sickened by Doberman's actions when they mentioned him a moment ago.

"I Hina, promise to keep your secret so long as it does not threaten world peace." Hina said firmly, her words in a way confirming Luffy's thoughts about her. "That is the best I can give you."

Sighing, Luffy slid off the balcony to lean against it next to her, watching as their joint crew moved around the wounded, or trimmed the sails under Nami's direction as he told the tale. When Luffy finished, Hina simply gawked at him. "Are you telling me you took on a Shichibukai because you were asked to?! That's it!?"

"I had to take him out to save a friend because he was a threat to her country. The friend part there is the most important thing you should take away I think. So long as I have your word that you won't bruited about." Luffy warned again.

"I thinks no one would believe me anyway, Hina incredulous," Hina replied with a groan, shaking her head. "I just can't understand you. Why are you even a pirate!? I heard from Smoker that you stole a ship from his outpost right enough, but that's about the only pirate activity you've ever done as far as I can tell. Well that, and plundering other pirates but that is hardly stealing."

Luffy laughed at that, and Hina allowed her lips to quirk into a grin. But she was serious as he looked at her. "I would like an answer to that. Hina serious. The good you could do as a marine, you could be as big a hero as your grandfather in time."

"We're dreamers," Luffy said thoughtfully staring around at his crew one at a time, his smile softening slightly as he looked at Robin reading a book and keeping several dozen eyes on the marines at the same time. She looked up and smiled very slightly before going back to her book.

Luffy turned back to Hina, his soft smile morphing into a confident, aggressive smirk as his eyes hardened. "Me, I want to be the Pirate King, because it will be proof that I am the strongest in the world, and with that strength comes freedom. I'll be the freest person in the world, because no one will try to chain me down by their rules that I don't make myself. My first mate Zoro, he wants to be the greatest swordsman in the world. The rest of my crew, they, we all have dreams were chasing, dreams, which means we can't let ourselves care about your laws. We will fulfill them or die trying. That is the strength of our dream, our _Resolve_."

Hina slowly nodded. "Pirate dreamers. Smoker might be right to be worried about you then. Sometimes those pirates who dream are the most dangerous." Hina had seen the iron determination in Luffy's eyes as he spoke about his dream to be the Pirate King, and knew that from such dreams, and the will of D. miracles or disasters could be made.

But then Luffy's eyes went cold. "We're not bound by your laws," he said again, "and I'm not blind to your bullshit." Hina's back stiffened, and she opened her mouth to retort, but Luffy pointed a steel hard finger at her. "The human slave market," he said coldly. "The slaves that the so-called Tenryubito keep. The way they can order anyone else to their knees, rip apart families, slaughter people on a whim! Look me in the eye and say that is for justice."

Hina shivered, and it took all of her will to keep from looking away. She held his gaze for a time, saying nothing, and Luffy's rage slowly subsided. "I don't hate you Marines," he said with a growl, looking away himself. "But that doesn't mean I'm blind to the fact that you also allow a lot of evil to exist in this world and you don't challenge it because you aren't allowed to look at your own World Government."

For a moment the two of them sat there silently looking away from one another, as the crew began to form up now for the food Sanji had been preparing. "What happened to Smoker?" Luffy asked as he stood up, looking back at her.

Hina stood up with difficulty unable to use her hands and arms yet, but Luffy didn't offer to help her, which she actually appreciated since that would've hurt her pride even further than it had since she had woken up. "Smoker was ordered to stay behind in Alabasta with the wounded Vice Admiral until a ship arrived to take him back to Marijoa. After all, Doberman is a vice admiral, and many a pirate would love to make a name for themselves by killing him in his horribly weakened state. Plus Smoker had lost his own galleon, and I would never have allowed him to command mine without orders. If he hadn't, Smoker would've been right alongside me in chasing you down."

"Sorry to hear that," Luffy said, "though I'm not sorry I hurt dog-face."

Hina just nodded wearily, something about the conversation having tired her out almost as much as her wounds had. _Perhaps that is because I wasn't really able to fight against any of his points. It is obvious Luffy could not be a marine, but it is equally obvious that he is no normal pirate._

As they two of them joined the throng of her own crew and his around the entrance way into the small dining area, Hina whistled drawing her crew's attention. After they had yelled themselves hoarse about how happy they were to see her up, she glared them into silence. "Hina has agreed to a truce. Given the skills of the Pirates, my own injuries," she said, trying to hold up her hands, but even that motion failing her thanks to her elbows refused to respond to her commands. "And the fact we have no ship of our own and are only really alive at all thanks to their largesse. For now we will follow their orders, unless they perform some act of villainy in front of us," she finished, looking sternly at Luffy.

He frowned and pointed a finger up in the air "does defending ourselves count? As we've already run into one asshole on this sea."

A few of the Marines chuckled at that one, as did Luffy's crew.

Makino also spoke up as she moved to stand by Hina. "And what about excessive flirting? Can that be considered harassment perhaps?"

Hina blinked, then stared at where Makino was pointing, only to gasp and back away, slightly as Sanji suddenly appeared in a whirl a few feet in front of her, holding out a dish of shark steak and the aroma of which caused Hina to almost drool. "My lady! Surely, the marines are blessed to have such a beauty among them. Please, take this small offering of my humble delight in your presence among this filthy crew."

"I still say we're not filthy," Luffy said as he moved around his cook with a laugh, heading over to where Robin had sat down, along with Nami near on the steps leading up to the aft deck.

Chopper nodded seriously. "I make sure everyone aboard washes regularly, even those of us with Devil Fruit difficulties."

"See what I mean," Makino asked, moving closer to Hina and whispering in her ear, ignoring Luffy and Chopper.

Hina frowned at her, then tried to raise her hands again, only for Makino to move forward, and cut out a steaming forkful, holding it in front of her mouth. Hina glared at the woman, but bit down. "Hina humiliated…" she began before the taste of the food hit her. "Amazing! Astonishing! This is soooo goooood!"

"Your words fill me with joy!" Sanji shouted, throwing his hands out and spinning wildly.

"Love cook," Zoro groaned putting a hand over his eyes. "Could you not embarrass us in front of the Marines?"

"Does the National Treasure want to go!?" Sanji roared, slamming his forehead against Zoro's.

"I'm sorry, I don't speak stupid, could you repeat that Curly brow!"

Watching this the Marines began to laugh, shaking their heads and chuckling as they took some food for themselves, moving around the ship, leaving Makino to lead Hina over to where the other two girls were sitting along with Luffy, and Chopper. "See what I mean?"

"Hina thinks flirting is fine if he can make food like this, I'll put up with it," Hina said, as Makino fed her another piece of food.

Robin chuckled at that as did Luffy, but Robin's eyes were still narrowed as she looked at the Marines one after another, wondering if all of them would abide by Hina's declaration. Nami on the other hand was staring at Hina, not trusting her for some reason.

As she watched, a thought suddenly occurred to Hina, and she turned to look at Luffy. "Wait, beyond what we talked about, what secrets are we talking about?"

"This one!" Fullbody shouted, tossing a glass of water at Luffy.

Luffy could have dodged it, but after a brief second's reflection, decided not to. _After all, seeing is believing, especially about something like the curse._

The change happened, and Hina gawked. "Bounty Hunter Ranko!?" her eyes narrowed. "What in the world is going on here!?"

After once more explaining what occurred, Hina slowly shook her head. Like Robin, she knew there was something off about this tale. No Devil Fruit had the power to create such a change in another body, especially not one that stuck after so long. Still, she kept that to herself, while Sanji and more than a few of her own marines looked avidly at Luffy now, muttering to themselves that he/she should stay in his female form forever.

She spoke up just as Luffy was about to wail on the marine who had said that comment just a bit too loudly. "Hina agrees."

Luffy turned to her a pout on her face that was just far too cute to be seen on a pirate or bounty hunter, but then it morphed into a positively wicked smirk as Luffy sidled towards her, a light blush on her cheeks but her body language beyond that turning almost seductive. "Oh, that's interesting Hina, so does that mean you prefer this kind of body to my normal one? I wonder how many hearts the world over would break if they knew Black Cage Hina preferred women to men."

More than one man, even Zoro, stared into nothing for a moment at that, blood starting to drip form their nostrils. Sanji too started out like that but Fullbody and more than a few marines started wailing like children. "No! Captain Hina, say it isn't so!"

"GAH NO!" Hina roared, leaping forward and kicking out at the nearest men showing signs of letting their thoughts wander then attempted to tag Luffy, who dodged around with a laugh on her lips before Robin, deciding her captain had had enough fun for one day, dumped some of her tea over Luffy's head while also grabbing at Hina's legs with several conjured hands. Makino then led her back to the table, where Luffy, still chuckling joined them a moment ago.

As she calmed down, Hina glared at the once-more-Luffy. "Not like that! It's just a pity that you don't want to be pirate queen. Women always need more representation in the top echelons of power, marine or pirate. At the moment the strongest woman in the world is Charlotte Linlin, and she isn't exactly the best representative of womanhood out there.

"And you think a guy turned girl who sees his female form as just another ability at best and an irritation at worst would be better? Luffy asked dryly, his eyes widening when Hina simply nodded. "Ouch."

 **OOOOOOO**

"I am still against this change to the Pacifista project!" Bellowed an old man, his form hidden in the shadows of the lab around them.

"I understand your concerns, but with Doberman's injuries, we have been given a massive opportunity Doctor. Remember that the higher ups have always worried about Kuma's loyalty even though he volunteered for this project. This way, we can eventually have both an utterly loyal Shichibukai, and ensure the loyalty of the main line of Pacifista."

"… Fine. But you'd best get Doberman back here quickly then."

"We have already sent Kizaru to Alabasta Doctor, along with the investigative team. Don't worry, Doberman will still be alive when he arrives here." The second man, Sengoku himself, sighed. "What happens to him after that, is up to you.

 **OOOOOOO**

The _Resolve_ slowly moved forward over this strange new world white ocean. The reason for their slowness was because Nami was insisting that they take soundings every few minutes. "Just to make certain that there were no hidden reefs or shoals or the equivalent anyway in this new strange sea." There was also little to no wind, which slowed their passage considerably. The crew had to break out the oars occasionally, and once more the marines were no help. Even those few that were uninjured still couldn't exert themselves very long thanks to the altitude.

But they were still being guided by the Log Pose. This was a very good thing, since even Nami was having trouble figuring out where they could be and what progress they had made. Oddly though, Nami also reported that the Log Pose was still pointing upwards. That meant that whatever island it had latched onto was even higher than the White Sea they were on now.

About two hours of travel saw a change in the setting. A at the edges of their vision, the ocean began to give way to mountains of what looks like more fluffy white clouds, only this time they looked more solid than the bottom of the ocean they had burst through.

Staring at them, Luffy shook his head. "I'm sorry, but I just have to check this out." With that, he hopped into the air, and made his way up across to the nearest portions of the clouds, landing with a slight bounce on the white clouds. Reaching down Luffy pushed his hand into it he began to laugh as it gave only slightly then he leaped up and bounced off it like bouncy ball, laughing wildly. "I love the Grand Line!" he whooped.

"That's nice," Chopper muttered, staring at Luffy having fun.

Zoro heard him, and lifted him up onto the railing. ""Then why don't you go over?" Chopper glanced down at the ocean then to Zoro who shrugged. "Take a chance. We'd get you out if you fell, and come on, you need to get over letting that issue control you. You can't always expect to get away with not using Geppo when we're out at sea."

Sighing, Chopper hopped up into the air, and bounced his way across towards where Luffy was having fun. Almost as soon as he landed, he started to roll around in the awesomely soft fluffy giving white cloud mass. "This is so cool!"

"I know right," Luffy said with a laugh, bouncing up and then flopping back down on his back while the marines and the others are aboard the crew simply watched or kept the _Resolve_ going.

For her part, Hina shook her head. "This is the mighty new pirate aboard in the Grand Line everyone," she said aloud chuckling. "Witness him in his natural environment. So childish."

Luffy heard her over the distance, and shook his head. Reaching down to the soft cloud he began to pile up some into his hands, then pulled it off and away from the rest of the mass. It worked thankfully, coming loose in his hand like silly putty almost, while feeling like the finest down, retaining its bouncy, giving nature. He hopped into the air leaving Chopper behind for a moment, and heading back to the _Resolve_.

There he thrust out the bundle of cloud stuff towards Hina. "Here you try."

Rolling her eyes, Hina leaned her head sideways into the fluff and gasped slightly at how soft and giving it was. "Oh my, that is really nice. We might want to figure out how to take some with us. Hina interested."

"Not a bad idea, though I'd want to ask the local some questions first, just to make certain it won't lose its properties and just return to being so much water vapor before we go mining or cutting, whatever ya'd want to call that." Luffy replied, pulling the bit of cloud away from where Hina had pushed her head against it between her head and shoulder with some difficulty, handing it over to Nami and Makino to try in turn. Robin waved him off, already having conjured some hands on the stuff of the mountain cloud.

The _Resolve_ began to move closer and closer to the cloud mountains, the path of the White Sea narrowing and Sanji hopped into the air moving with Luffy over along with Makino on his back clinging there desperately with her eyes closed. She could forget at this point that they were so very high off what she thought of as solid ground by thinking that they were just in the normal ocean. However feeling herself being in the air like this was a terrifying experience for her, nearly breaking her mind out of that image.

Sanji of course didn't care about that. He just loved the fact that she was clinging to them. His eyes had changed into hearts once more, and his face was bright red under his blond hair. Unfortunately for Sanji, the two of them soon set down on the cloud, where Makino immediately disengaged from his back and moved of, soon lying down the snow white cloud stuff, sighing happily.

That was enough for Nami, and she ordered Zoro to toss the anchors out to either side, hitting the cloud mountains. She looked over at Zoro gesturing down to the marines and the doors leading deeper into the ship, where their gold and precious loot of all sorts was stored. He nodded back, and moved to where he could see all the entrances, making no indication he was interested in the cloud stuff, which was good since, while trusting the marines would follow Hina's orders, they couldn't trust they wouldn't look around if they got the chance.

Hina looked at them all and laughed once more before looking at her own Marines, who are also looking wistfully at the cloud stuff. She shrugged her shoulders, then hopped into the air after the others. "I think you should all treat this like a weird vacation. Besides, if we get back to the Blue Sea, this will be one hell of a tale. Hina curious."

"Yes ma'am!" said more than half of the able-bodied Marines, clambering up into the rigging, then along the mast where they could hop off onto the cloud stuff.

Robin followed, looking far more agile and balanced than any of them, where she leaped off lightly, bouncing a few times forward before she came to a stop nearly Luffy. "This is an experience," she said with a laugh.

Nami too had crossed over easily, almost as agile as a cat though she did land on all fours rather than Robin on her feet alone.

She laid out, then sat up abruptly and pointed at Luffy. "We **seriously** have to think about taking some of this stuff with us."

Rolling his eyes, Luffy waved that off, repeating what he had said to Hina earlier.

Nami soon returned to the _Resolve_ , where she directed a few of the Marines to pull out the anchors once more. Several other marines would remain behind to keep the _Resolve_ moving, while the others bounced along on the mountain cloud for a time until one of them spotted something ahead of them.

He was an older marine with short-cropped tiger striped hair, and somewhat larger muscles than most of the others, wearing a muscle T-shirt. When he spoke his voice was raspy, the sort of voice that had become overused shouting commands. "There's some strange arch thing out there straight ahead and a slightly to the left around this strange cloud hill thing on the route the ship's taking."

Moving quickly Luffy joined him along with Hina and a few of the others. They saw the strange gate, which looked like a gold-painted star almost with a tunnel through it, with some words painted above the tunnel, unreadable at this distance. But they also saw the ocean leading up into it, then up into a spiral heading further upwards. This was most definitely the way they had to go.

Turning back to the ship, Luffy shouted out what they had seen, then told Nami to furl the sails entirely and back oars until they were all aboard. "That looks sort of like an official entrance, and I think we need to all be together when we go through." He looked around at the marines and the others. "Back to the _Resolve_ everybody."

The Marines didn't obey until Hina nodded towards them all. "We are guests, and I doubt we couldn't just stay aboard on this cloud thing for the rest of our lives after all. Surviving out here would be difficult, Hina difficult."

Eventually they were all back aboard, and the _Resolve_ continued on its way, moving around the cloud hill and up to the incredibly garish gateway. "Entrance to heaven? That's a little presumptuous isn't it?" Luffy asked as he read the words.

"On the other hand, it could just be following the theme that Knight said about the only law being that of God up here," Sanji said, breathing out after taking a puff of his cigarette. He was very grateful that the Marines had all mostly brought their own packs, or else he'd already be out considering how many smokers there were among them.

Luffy shrugged. "Still smacks of some weird religion to me, and that just can't be good in the long run."

"You're thinking long term?" Nami asked incredulously and then giggled as Luffy blew a long raspberry at her.

As the _Resolve_ slowly entered the gate and up towards where it would take the strange River's further up the tide ended abruptly. To one side of the gate there was a small walkway and out from it an equally small walkway. There a short old woman the size of whom reminded Luffy strongly of Cologne, stood. But Cologne, thankfully for Ranma's tenuous grasp of sanity, didn't have wings on her back and didn't wear a flowery dress. Nor did she carry a camera rather than a cane like this one did. "Visitors from the blue sea?" she asked her voice rather creaky. "You must pay to enter."

Luffy stepped forward before Nami could say anything, looking at her out of the corner of her his eye with one eyebrow raised. She scowled a little, but stepped backwards. She didn't like paying for anything, which was one of the perks of being a pirate in her opinion. But she wasn't the captain, and had been learning not to act as if she was of late. "How much?"

"1,000,000,000 extol per person on the crew in question," the woman answered.

As Nami began to boil at the very idea and many of the marines took to muttering, Luffy asked instantly. "What's the conversion rate from Extol to Beli?"

"Beli, the currency of the Blue Sea. The currency is 10,000 Extol per one Beli."

Luffy nodded at that, then looked around at the mixed crew. Hina shrugged her shoulders eloquently, grateful the move didn't cause any more pain to shoot up her arms. Chopper's medicine was working to get her back to fighting shape far faster than anything else she'd run into. "We don't have that of course. You, you'd have to pay for my men," she said, hesitantly.

Looking over the number of marines and his own troops, Luffy frowned. Even with that excellent exchange rate, that was a hundred thousand Beli per person. His own crew could pay it easily, but adding in the marines, that would wipe out a fair amount of their ready cash.

He turned back, and asked, "What if we don't pay, what's the penalty?"

"Nothing." The old woman replied promptly.

As the rest of the mixed crew again began to exchange confused mutters, the woman went on. "Amazon is merely the gate watcher. It is not my place and it is beyond my ability to attempt to force compliance or otherwise impede your progress."

Staring hard at her, Luffy scowled inwardly while also shivering at the woman's name reminding him of Cologne again. But there was an easy way to get out of paying for some of their number at least. "My purser will tell you what we can pay," Luffy said, stepping to one side and letting Makino move forward whispering, "Try to argue her down if you can, but watch her all the time, I'll get as many of the others under cover as we can."

He looked between Amazon and the crew, then gestured to Sanji and Robin who had just been about to come out from the cafeteria, shaking his head. Chopper too he waved back into hiding where he had been standing next to a barrel, as if he thought he was hiding.

Not even nodding an acknowledgement Makino smiled pleasantly at the older woman, then asked brightly, "Considering that most of the individuals you see are not from the original crew of this ship, and further many of them heavily wounded and will no doubt die soon, can we get a discount?"

"OY!" The Marines all shouted only at the same time, but fell silent under a glare from Luffy and Zoro.

"Don't mess with Makino while she's haggling," Luffy growled at them all. "Just look as dead as you possibly can, unless you want to pay off your debt to us by serving on the crew for a bit? At minimum wage?"

Hina chuckled at that, but did not push herself to her feet from where she was leaning against the mast. She could already also see that several of her Marines were staring avidly at Makino from where they were laying down, beginning to groan and moan, hamming it up for her benefit, which was amusing to her. It was odd to see women on a pirate crew, and Makino's homebody sort of beauty seemed to call to a lot of her men. She didn't have as much of a 'in your face' kind of beauty as Nami. Nami was also young, and had an attitude that reminded most of the marines far too strongly of Hina if she was any judge.

Yes, most of her crew was enamored with Hina, something she had known for years and had taken advantage of occasionally. But it was more of a gaze upon in awe and reverence at her beauty sort of feeling rather than the kind you would actually try to flirt or have a relationship with. The only exceptions to that was her lieutenant, and one or two other men among her crew.

Robin too was a great beauty, even Hina could tell that, and she could also admit to some respect for the other woman, knowing that she had lived on her own on the Grand Line for so long, an astonishing feat even given Robin's abilities and the lengths she was willing to go to. But Robin was also a known terror to the marines, and none of them would think of flirting with her any more than they would want to flirt with a sea king. _But Makino, if we are on this ship overlong, I can see Sanji having some serious competition in the over the top flirting department. I wonder what Luffy and the rest will do at that point. Hina interested._

Eventually the haggling finished, and my Makino walked back to the rest of the crew smiling thinly. "We're done here. Zoro, come with me, we'll go and get the money." She looked around the Marines smiling sweetly. "Please stay where you are," she whispered, "until we are well out of her hearing or sight. That old woman is a sharper than her looks give her credit for. And I'm sure none of you wants to go into debt to pirates correct?"

There were some mutters and grumblings at that, which quickly turned to moans of agony as Nami moved among them lightly stepping here and there. Anything to save them some money. Makino and Zoro were quickly back, and Zoro hopped over to pile up the money in front of the woman, who transferred it into her small booth inside the gate. This was a slow process but eventually they were done.

While this was going on, Makino reported to Luffy. "That really wasn't haggling, she wasn't willing to bend on any of the issues, but nor was she willing to say what the penalties would be for not paying. It was very strange. Eventually I agreed to pay for our visible crewmen and a handful of the most fit marines, but I wasn't able to get any kind of discount on the wounded." Indeed, Makino had been told there would probably be a price for burying them once they died up in Skypiea. "That's the name of the place we're heading to."

"I'm sure ya did your best Makino. I wouldn't have even bothered paying at all, but I think we want to be on good terms with the locals," Luffy confessed. "I'd like to overhaul the entire ship while we're here, and we also want to buy some of that cloud stuff, and maybe look into those weird skates Bull-mask was using. Still, let's get a move on."

So saying Luffy moved forward to take the tiller, but before they could try to move forward into the stream heading upwards in a spiral around the more solid kind of cloud, there was a loud clanging noise from either side of the _Resolve_. Luffy looked over quickly, and saw a giant shrimp underneath them, grabbing onto the _Resolve_ with its claws right under where the wings had been bolted onto the sides of the ship. "What the…"

The next second they were pushed forward on the shrimp's back into the stream. The stream quickly began to ascend, the shrimp swimming up into it and dragging the _Resolve_ with it. Luffy blinked, staring down at the crab who was only vaguely visible besides the claws on the side of the _Resolve_ , shaking his head. "Well," he said mildly "this is an interesting way to travel."

At the same time as Luffy and his crew were heading upwards, the old woman had returned to her little office, picking up a Den-Den Mushi. "There are newcomers here. They have many wounded and dying among them, remnants of two of different crews apparently. They were able to pay for many, those that would live, but they were very stingy about paying for the wounded. I feel they could be made to be criminals quite easily," she said, a faint smirk on her face as she spoke into the receiver. "They would make fantastic offerings to God."

 **OOOOOOO**

Once more, Luffy growled irritably as spray from the front of the _Resolve_ 's passage up into another level of this strange white ocean caused him to change forms into her. Regardless she quickly wiped it away from her eyes, stared around her and forward as the shrimp thing deposited them onto this higher stage of the White Sea.

Ahead of them to the right a large island mass of cloud, but one that had actual life on it. It looked as if it was multi-tier like the White Sea itself. At the base, was what looked almost like a pristine beach. This led upwards in wide staircases up to several others islands, all of which had houses on them. The widest rose up out of sight, marked by what looked like huge hawsers of rope twined around one another. From this distance Luffy couldn't make out any people.

Soon the ship was close to shore, carried there by a powerful tide. For a moment the marines and pirates were silent, simply staring around them in awe at what could honestly be called a scene from heaven. There was even some kind of music in the air too, which Makino and Robin at least recognized as coming from a string instrument, though at first none of them could spot who was making it.

"What is that?" Luffy asked at last, now purposefully looking around and trying to spot where the music was coming from.

"I'll tell you what that is…" Sanji said, moving to the side of the _Resolve_ and staring avidly at the shoreline, where under a few small canopies was a single young local woman. "That is a Conis."

The angel in question was possibly a little older than Nami, though her body was not quite as full as Nami's was, with blonde hair done down her back in two long bangles, wearing a pink blouse and skirt combo which clung to her body down to mid-thigh, showing an amazingly thin waist and pristine long legs. She was strumming what looked like a large harp of some kind and from her back sprang two small wings much like those Amazon had save larger, and two little antennas sticking up from her hair.

Her eyes were closed as the _Resolve_ slowed to a stop, two splashes signaling that the marines had dropped anchor, though looking down at the water line, Luffy doubted it was necessary given how shallow the water was at the edge of the island. She looked up at that noise and smiled at them nodding in welcome. "Heso."

As one, Marine and pirate both cocked her head to one side. "Heso?" The word meant belly button in the common tongue.

"What's that mean?" Chopper asked.

"Well Heso is Heso," Zoro muttered, shaking her head. "I don't why she'd…"

"Who cares!?" Sanji said, waving frantically back at the woman. "Perhaps it's some kind of local thing. She can greet me however she likes!"

"Maybe," Luffy said with a chuckle, staring around at the beach for a while. Then she looks down at the water, and smirked before turning to her crew, and laughing. "Who's up for some fun in the sun!?"

"Heck yes!" Nami said with a laugh, quickly turning and entering the _Resolve_. She returned dressed in an orange and black bikini with a pair of cut-off jeans on top of the lower half. Luffy took her own turn entering the ship and coming back dressed in a white and black striped one-piece suit. It was about as sexy as a paper bag next to Nami's but that was the way Luffy liked it. The two of them leaped off the edge of the ship, laughing as they landed in the shallow water and swimming on towards the shore.

While Sanji smiled and began to bow and thank god for letting him see the girls like this again after so long (since Alabasta it had only been a few weeks) Fullbody sidled up to Hina, his voice a whisper. "You know we could take the _Resolve_ while they're off carousing, captain."

"Even if our crew was able to move and exercise as they should, we wouldn't be able to get away with the number of people among them who can Geppo," Hina said, indicating she'd already thought of it. "Besides, their doctor helped our wounded, and I think our crew could do with a bit of a break."

Hina had been riding her crew hard ever since leaving Ruluka Island in an effort to catch up with the far faster _Resolve_. On top of that, there had been the pitched battle against the other pirates then the ride up the Knockup Stream, which had been nasty in itself, like going through a full gale hurricane, then having to scramble to save their wounded fellows and as much supplies as they could, without Hina directing them at that point, all at this new altitude that sapped their strength with every breath. They had lost friends to battle and the oceans too.

So despite the rest they'd gotten in the hours since, it was clear to Hina that most of her crew were on their last legs. A few days rest and relaxation here in neutral territory would fit the bill nicely. "Besides," she said, gesturing around to the trees and then beyond. "I'll wager this place has some kind of boatbuilding or shipbuilding industry, we might be able to convince them to loan us a new ship."

She turned to Makino, who had been moving towards her anyway. "I don't suppose you have a bathing suit for Hina? Hina sunbathe."

"Actually Captain, I saved a lot of your clothing," Fullbody said brightly, pulling out from somewhere a large trunk.

Hina stared at it then him, then back before saying, "Hina mixed feelings." Robin and Makino both nodded at that, while the men simply looked at them quizzically, before Makino lead Hina inside and down to her room where the two of them could change.

Meanwhile, Nami and Luffy had been joined by Sanji. Sanji, somehow, had beaten them ashore, and she and Nami were right behind him as he moved towards the local girl. She smiled at them all and said, "Greetings Blue Sea dwellers, can I help you?"

"Well, the truth is madam your music has stolen my heart, and…" Sanji began, before Nami grabbed his cheek and pulled him to one side.

Luffy smiled rolling her eyes at her crew's interplay before looking at the local. "I'm Luffy, and this is my crew, the ones who're mismatched in terms of dress anyway. The rest are… acquaintances. If you could just give us an overview of this place that would be great."

Behind them Chopper had organized the marines to transport their wounded off the ship with Zoro reluctantly helping them. They had about fifteen of the wounded ashore by the time Makino and Hina came back on onto the deck. Soon enough, the two mixed crews were all ashore, with the Marines laying out here and there. Only a few of them had shown any ability to get over the lack of air up here, and were next to useless still.

Seeing this, Hina shook her head. "Hina disappointed. I thought my Marines would be tougher than this."

The fact that she still couldn't use her hands was more than irritating by this point, but Makino had helped her change, which had been an odd experience, but a pleasant one all the same as the two of them chattered away at one another about whether or not they would be able to buy any of the super-soft lounge chairs they saw on the shoreline, and how long they would be here until the log pose resets. Then they had shifted into actual girl talk, which Hina, for all her professionalism, had missed for quite a few years now.

When they joined her on shore Nami was questioning the local girl, whose name was Conis, if they would have time to shop. She really wanted to see what kind of styles were available up here. "Although, if it's all as… I don't know prudish I suppose… as what Conis is wearing, it might not be worth it."

"So this little fella is a fox?" Luffy asked, poking the little creature with a finger. She had asked several other questions, and had learned this island was called Skypiea and was home to an entire nation, if a small one, of people who lived up here. Conis had never met other Blue Sea dwellers and was interested in them in turn, and the two of them, and Sanji, had been talking for some time as the rest of the mixed crew came ashore.

The last one to come ashore was Robin and Zoro, who had made certain none of the marines had been left behind. While Luffy trusted Hina's words, she didn't have any problem with them making certain none of the marines had time or ability to explore the ship. He actually wasn't so concerned about the cash and gold they had, rather he wanted the tech they had harvested from the Rainbow Mist to be kept secret. Luffy had plans for that stuff, he just needed to find people he trusted with the know how to make it happen.

"Yes," said Conis. "Su is my pet, and keeps me company when I'm waiting for my father to return."

"And what does your father do?" Luffy asked.

"Oh, he's a Dial Engineer," the woman said with a bright smile, before turning and thanking Sanji, smiling awkwardly at the praise he heaped on her as he handed her the cold dark liquid drink. Where or how Sanji had created it Luffy didn't know, but it looked nothing like Conis had ever tried before and she said so before sipping at it her eyes widening in delight. "Oh my! That is very good!"

"You have graced me with your beauty, I could not do less than my best to repay you for that," Sanji said, causing a bright blush to cross her features.

Robin and Makino and Nami all looked at one another, then smirked, and leaned back on lounge chairs made of the local cloud stuff as Conis proffered a large odd-looking melon of some kind. "This makes one of our local drinks."

Sanji took it, turning it this way and that. "I hate to ask but…"

"Oh you have to cut into it with a knife from the bottom to get at the drink. The outer edge is not edible at all, it's actually extremely tough." Conis explained.

Luffy made a give it here gesture, and before the woman could say anything further, Sanji tossed it to her. The redhead caught it, twisted this way and that, then raised a finger and slammed it down into the top of the melon, bursting through easily. "Anyone got a straw?"

While the woman looked a little startled at that display of strength, Hina pushed her sunglasses down with some difficulty to look at Luffy over the top of them. "That looked like Shigan."

"I know it, just like all the other forms," Luffy said simply, shaking her head. "I just prefer not to use it."

"Why not?" Hina asked interestedly.

Luffy turned to look Hina directly in the face, her face hard. "I prefer not to kill," she said simply. "Or don't you remember what happened the first time you and I fought?"

Hina had the good grace to blush and look away at that. Luffy had her completely at her mercy or rather **his** at the time. And no pirate she had ever met before would have passed over the opportunity to if nothing else get a quick feel at the very least. But Luffy hadn't. Instead, he had treated her with respect and dignity and even after beating Smoker, he had left them both there without molesting either of them further.

For a time, the ladies just laid out, silent and soaking in the sun. Even Luffy, who had done something similar to this a few days before with Robin, had no objections to spending some time like that. There was something almost sensual about the way the sunlight felt on her skin like this, an idea Ranma had never been happy about thinking about, but one that Luffy/Ranma had gotten used to thinking while in female form.

 _Sort of like chocolate,_ Luffy thought to herself with a chuckle, waving off the others as they looked at her. "Just thinking about how some things are just better in this body you know?"

"Do tell," Hina asked looking at her quizzically.

"Chocolate for one thing. Just tastes better in this form. Laying out in the sun like this, that's another thing even if you take away the worry about being splashed. Oh and having my hair combed. I don't get that one frankly, I mean you'd think hair is the same one body to another, but no."

"Weird," Hina said with a sigh. "Very weird. Your curse, your attitude. Both very, very weird."

Luffy shrugged. "Why buck the trend when I've been weird my whole damn life?"

The others laughed at that, even Hina smirking around her cigarette and went back to their sunbathing. Nearby, they could hear Sanji chatting up Conis and succeeding in doing so to a great degree apparently. Nami watched that with amusement plain on her features, then looked over to the Marines. All of them, even those uninjured were just lazing about, and she shook her head, smirking at Hina caustically. "Behold the mighty marines everyone, done in by the height of this new sea."

Hina growled. "If Hina had the use of her arms she would smack you right now, ginger."

Nami just laughed, and took another sip of the drink that Sanji had somehow prepared for them all. While the man was a wizard with cooking, sometimes Nami thought his ability to get the food from one place to another was just as amazing. "Your threats really don't have as much impact as they should dressed as you are right now."

Hina too wore a bikini, more modest than Nami's but only very slightly, its color a deep burgundy. Her waist was closer to Makino, but up top, she was closer to Nami's size, her breasts large yet perky standing out proudly on her chest as she stretched. Around her waist she wore a sash. Below that, her bikini bottom was a rather daring T-back that barely covered everything it should.

In other words Hina looked very, very good. Her marines had to struggle to tear their eyes away from her, which she smirked at, although she was somewhat more pleased to note the girls looking at her with some jealousy showing from Nami and Conis and appreciation from Luffy.

Ignoring this byplay Robin took out a book whose surface had faded to nothing and began to read quietly. From where she was laying out nearby, Luffy looked at it quizzically. "Is that one of the ones from the Rainbow Mist?" she asked softly.

She nodded, tapping it once with a long delicate finger. "It seems to be some kind of fantasy novel, although the writing is quite archaic. I had hoped it was a history book, but it is still quite good reading."

Luffy twisted, and pulled the super-soft lounge chair next to Robins, where she leaned across and began to read along with her trying to pick up the story as she did, which brought a faint smile to Robin's face. And she did nothing to push the other woman away, instead simply moving slightly closer herself, until her arm nestled against Luffy's breast on that side. She felt Luffy still for a brief moment at that contact, but the redhead didn't move away, though she did breathe a little more erratically for a few seconds before calming down, causing Robin to giggle even as she continued to read.

In fact, Robin was quite happy with how Luffy had been treating her since they had their all-too brief moment back in the resort on Jaya. In essence, beyond a few more appreciative glances and light touches like this, Luff hadn't treated her any different at all. It was evident to Robin that whatever the new understanding between them was, Luffy wasn't going to put her on a pedestal or anything like that, and wasn't going to be publicly demonstrative with her either unless she indicated she wanted it. At the moment, that fit Robin down to the ground.

Nami and Makino had missed this, continuing to watch Sanji flirt with Conis as a few of the Marines, starting to join in placing bets on how long it would be before Sanji kicked them all away. Hina however had noticed but made no sign that she had, simply turning away to look at her own Marines shaking her head at them.

She was the first to spot something incoming from the ocean, and stood up, trying to raise her hand to her eyes to shield them, and failing. "There is something out there, coming in quickly," she said.

Conis looked up from where she had just backed away from where two marines and Sanji seemed about to be coming to blows over her attention, grateful for any reprieve. "Oh, um, that must be my father." She moved to the edge of the shoreline, waving one hand above her head. "Father, Heso!"

Over the sound of the waves and the rising sound of some kind of engine noise, they barely heard the man respond "Conis, Heso!"

"Seriously,what is it with you people and Heso?" Zoro muttered from where he had been laid out snoozing on the shoreline. Above him Chopper began to build a giant castle over his prone form with the odd, puttylike snow cloud. "

Chopper nodded agreement absently then looked up in horror as the man, riding some kind of thing that was booming out water behind him at a fantastic rate, slammed into the shoreline. Both the man and the odd little boat cartwheeled forward, the man smashing straight into Chopper's castle as the boat crashed down elsewhere. "No!" Chopper roared, shifting to his human form and grabbing at the man shaking him hard. "Darn it! Do you know how long it had taken me to build that?"

The answer actually wasn't that long, since the crew had been on the shore for barley forty minutes by this point. But to Chopper his huge castle had been precious.

"Now, now Doctor," Makino said, moving forward to gently touch Chopper on the shoulder. "A doctor shouldn't be shaking a possibly injured man like that so badly."

"Ah, …sorry, sorry," the man said, "but I'm not wounded!"

"Then I can keep shaking you!" Chopper roared back, but calmed down at another touch from Makino on the shoulder.

The newcomer was an older man, in his 50s or perhaps early 60s, with beady eyes, and a dark bushy bear all around his mouth that was invisible under it. He was bald up top save for two little antenna, and of course like Conis he had wings. He was dressed in something like Conis' clothing, in yellow with a few designs done in black down one side of his chest. He also had a belt full of tools at his waist and a pair of goggles on top of his head

With a final growl, Chopper let the man go and moved to start rebuilding his castle, glaring at Zoro when he made to push his way out from under it. Zoro rolled his eyes, but lay back down and let them youngster have is fun. "Greetings Blue Sea Landers," the man said with a smile, holding up his hand "Heso!"

"Right back at you…" Luffy said with a straight face, causing Robin and a few of the others to giggle. But Luffy's main attention was on the thing that the man had driven into the shoreline. "What is that thing?" she asked pointing at it as Sanji and a few of the marines dragged it out of the water.

"Ah, this? But of course, you don't have these down on the Blue Sea do you. This is a Waver." The man, who introduced himself as Pagaya, moved to the side of the small boat, pointing at a portion of it that looked like a large shell at the back of it. "It runs via this, a dial."

"Wait, that's the same kind of dial that Conis was talking about?" Luffy asked, looking over to the two examples Conis had been showing them at first, before getting caught up in Sanji's flirting at which point the girls had decided to concentrate on taking in some rays.

"Of course, they come in all shapes and sizes. We use dials for practically everything up here."

He looked over at his daughter and asked, "Conis, what have you explained about dials about them already?"

"I explained to some of their functions, the wind dial for the chimes, and the light one, as well as some of where they came from, father," Conis replied, smiling and moving to his side with Su, her little fox, in her arms.

"Excellent," the older man said with a smile, before gesturing back down to his Waver at the far back. "These dials here are called Breathe dials. They create waves through compressing air and releasing it in fast, incredibly powerful bursts, the speed of which you can control via the handle. This propels the ship forward over the water. But it is very, very hard to control, the study of a lifetime."

"I've barely gotten my apprentice Waver driver license," Conis confessed. "My father is much better than I am."

Luffy looked back at the groove Pagaya had created and the smashed castle which Chopper was still moaning about. "Uh huh," she muttered, with a sweatdrop appearing on her head, along with several of the others. Then she shook that off, and said, "Wait a minute, that looks kind of familiar."

Without another word, Luffy leaped into the air bouncing there for a moment before heading over to the _Resolve_. "My word!" Said Pagaya. His brown eyebrows rising up in shock, though his eyes didn't widen at all. "That was impressive. I did not know that any Blue Sea dweller could perform feats like that."

"Our crew is a bit special in that area," Robin said, kneeling beside the man and looking at the dial with interest.

Soon enough Luffy was back with the small boat they had found in the wreckage that had nearly crushed the _Resolve_ , setting it beside Pagaya's own. Side by side it was clear the one the Straw Hats had found was indeed the same type, if far more primitive and badly damaged.

"My word!" Pagaya said, quickly going down to his knees next to the ancient boat, moving the handle this way and that for a second, then pulling out a small magnifying glass and sticking it into one of his eyes, which enlarged that eye so that he actually looked as if he was seeing something for the first time as he looked down at the dial at the back of the small boat. "This is amazing! This isn't just any dial, this is a Jet dial! They are thought to have gone extinct!"

"Do you think you can repair it?" Luffy asked. "We can pay if you can." _And if he can fix this, maybe I can get to talk with him about a few of the other projects I've been thinking about with that Rainbow Mist stuff._

"I would love to try, although, it would be incredibly difficult to handle. Perhaps some of you should try on my own before I offer?" Pagaya asked worriedly. "While it would not be illegal for Blue Sea dwellers to own such a device on your own ocean, I would prefer to know that you could handle such beasts before offering to repair this one."

Luffy nodded and took Pagaya's own dial setting it into the ocean and hopping in. "I'll be right back."

He was actually back quite quickly, because not three seconds later he fell into the ocean, the dial splashing away. Luffy had to push herself up out of the water, then after it, grabbing it up and trying again and again, only to continually fall into the ocean.

During the third time she did better, bouncing around over the ocean, and hanging on for dear life but not actually directing the Waver anywhere. Eventually it flipped over and sent Luffy once more into the ocean. _FUCK! He wasn't kidding that thing is really hard to control. I can will it one way or another, but I can't read the oceans or the waves well enough._

A large, puffer fish of some kind decided the redhead looked edible and tried to take a bite out of him. But Luffy did not go along with that idea. She punched out hard, sending the fish up and out of the water like it had been hit by a cannon, knocking it out and sending it to flop in the water near the shoreline. Then with a scowl, Luffy swam after the Waver, grabbing it and pulling herself out of the water, kicking out at another shark and sending it to crash in among the trees behind the beach.

Conis stared at where the shark was flopping around, then back to her father, her face rather awed. "Are all Blue Sea dwellers so strong Father?"

"I don't know Conis, this is the first group of such I've ever met," Pagaya said, also staring at the shark.

"MMM…more shark steak," Nami muttered, to which the others, even Chopper and Zoro nodded agreement.

Finally Luffy returned, tossing the Waver to the cloud beneath them, growling angrily as she pushed her wet hair out of her face. "That thing is impossible! You have to be reading the waves, you have to read the wind, and you have to control your body and move it just so! I can do the third, but not the first two!"

"Actually, you did remarkably well for the first time," Pagaya said looking at her in astonishment. "You were able to stay on it for more than five seconds.

"I had been trying for years before I could do even that," said Conis with a laugh.

A second later, they heard a whooping sound and turned as Nami bounced along the waters. She laughed delightedly as she twisted the dials this way and that. "This is fantastic!" That they all stared, in shock, as she twisted her it around, controlling it with what looked like ease then bringing it back.

"Hina would like to try it," Hina said, before glaring down at her arms. "When I'm healed anyway."

"You should be there in a few hours," Chopper said from where he was still working on his castle.

"Excellent," Hina said with a grin staring at the Waver in delight.

"That's astonishing," Pagaya breaking out of his stupor at Nami's instant mastery of the Waver and shaking his head. "She's handling it like a natural! Do you have any idea how long it would take someone normal to train up to that level of expertise?"

Luffy laughed, crossing her arms under her test. "That's why she is our navigator!" Nearby Robin chuckled at that nodding her head as Makino did the same.

"But tell me more about these dials," Luffy said. "How many varieties are there, Conis was saying that they're everywhere right?"

"Sorry, indeed, dials power our entire economy and nearly everything we do. There are dials to help cool food to store it, there are dials that help heat things, there are dials to create lights, air-conditioning, heating, propulsion... There is even ways to use dials in combat, though I'm afraid I don't know much about that, sorry." Pagaya said. It was evident that saying sorry for him was some kind of verbal tic.

"Can you show me some other examples?" Luffy asked, his eyes slowly beginning to gleam with interest. _This, this sounds damn interesting, and I wonder if we can combine it with the gear from Wettons and the stuff from that Rainbow Mist._

Nami rode the dial back, leaping off it and giggling as she hugged the control lever to herself. "This thing is **awesome**! We're going to buy one of these Luffy," she said authoritatively.

"I'm actually thinking something along the same lines, although I should probably tease ya about actually wanting to pay for something," Luffy said with a smirk. "But like he said before, Pagaya here's already agreed to work to see if he can repair the old one we found in the wreck so we won't need to buy a new one."

"Hai, sorry. Working on a jet dial like this, that would be an amazing achievement for any Dial engineer," the older man said, patting the destroyed boat with one hand.

"That would be fantastic," Nami said excitedly, hugging Pagaya to her, causing a blush to suffuse what portions of his face were visible features before releasing him and turning to Luffy. "So, can I go exploring a bit? That Waver's so much fun!"

Amused that Nami was even asking rather than simply doing, Luffy nodded. "But take Chopper or Makino with you. Unless Robin wants to go?"

Robin shook her head, smiling at the older man. "I'm actually quite a bit more interested in these dials. And, could you tell us anything about the history of this island? We come from the Blue Sea as you have already discerned, but down below there is an island called Jaya, and it has a legend about this place."

"Fascinating!" Pagaya said, with a slow nod, while Conis frowned, looking away, though none of the others noticed. "I think I could tell you something about our history, though not much. It isn't one of my better subjects am afraid. But I can certainly show you many dozens of examples of dials in our home."

Sanji smiled back bowing slightly and taking Conis' hand in his. "If you do so good sir, I will create a meal for you and for Conis here fit for any king and queen."

Both of them looked a little confused at the words king and queen, but the look he gave Conis needed no translation and she blushed rosily. Yet she did not pull her hand away from Sanji's.

Robin and Luffy looked at one another, then as one smirked, and looked back at Nami, Makino and Chopper. Chopper scratched his horns then shook his head. "I should probably stay here with the Marines wounded. They only have the one doctor left, and it's nearly time for us to change some of the bandages on the severely injured."

Hina smiled at that, gesturing at her arms and Chopper nodded. "That too. I'll undo those in a few moments to test. But I think you should be good. Devil Fruit users always heal faster than most."

The first mates opinion wouldn't have mattered much for this discussion, but he wasn't about to give it in any event. Zoro had fallen asleep under Chopper's now massive cloud castle.

It ended up with Robin and Luffy going with Sanji and the two locals along the beach to a long stairwell leading up to a house in the distance, one of the smaller tiers that Luffy had seen earlier. But Makino went with Nami, hugging the shorter girl around the waist as the two of them stood on the Waver.

"I'm sorry I'm not Luffy," she said teasingly into Nami's ear. "You'd probably have a lot more fun that way."

Nami shuddered. _Only if he was in his male form then_ she thought before shaking her head and replying. "I, I don't know what you're talking about."

"I think it's time we need to talk about that…" Makino said.

Grumbling, Nami revved the dials, and they roared out from the shoreline with Makino screaming as she nearly lost her grip around Nami's waist. "I'm sorry! I can't hear you!"

 **OOOOOOO**

After having left the beach, Robin and Luffy talked with Conis and Pagaya, who showed them examples of dials around the house. Sanji had immediately moved into the kitchen, where he started to rave about the usage of dials while creating an exorbitant meal. During that meal, Luffy went outside onto the balcony, staring down at the marines and Chopper below before shading her eyes staring out towards the ocean. "Does anyone have a magnifying glass on them?"

Robin looked up at that from where she had been trying to pin Pagaya down about the history of Skypiea. "Why?" she asked, somewhat sharply. She hadn't been getting anywhere, and was beginning to be a little concerned about it.

"I can't see Nami out there," Luffy replied, shaking her head. She was still in her female body seeing no point to changing just yet, and frankly uninterested in seeing the local's reaction to it.

Pagaya joined them along with Conis, and both of them shaded their eyes too, staring out to sea. After a few moments, they too realized they couldn't see any sign of the Waver out there. "Father…" Conis said worriedly.

"I know Conis, sorry. I'm afraid she might have gone to the Sacred Land."

"Sacred Land?" said all three Pirates together, Sanji having come out from the kitchen where he'd been cleaning.

"It is a holy land to the west of here. Only God and his chosen can go there. It is a giant jungle full of dangerous animals and other things, but it is the home of God, and is sacred. If they went there, there could be trouble, sorry." Pagaya replied.

"What kind of trouble?" Luffy asked, crossing her arms and glaring at the two locals.

"Well, we know we don't know yet if they went there, perhaps we should wait a bit," said Pagaya, stammering and looking away.

The Pirates all exchanged glances at that, and Luffy asked. "Will this God person cause trouble for you if you tell us what could happen to them?"

"A bit perhaps," Pagaya replied, while Conis flinched and Su ran away to hide under the sofa. "But it is more that we don't actually know what happens there. No one who goes there ever returns beyond those who speak for God and take him and his Enforcers food. It is simply a forbidden land."

Luffy smiled widely at that, tugging at her hat thoughtfully. "A forbidden land where no one must ever, ever go... Interesting." _I smell adventure!_

"I know that look," Sanji and Robin said as one, then looked at one another and laughed. "You can't hope that they don't return just so you can go exploring Luffy," Robin said sternly with a twitch of her lips while Sanji muttered something about his and Robin's minds being linked.

"A man can dream can't he?"

"I'm sorry, but a 'man' can dream?" Pagaya asked for real this time his brows knitting in confusion as Conis also cocked her head quizzically.

"Long story," Luffy said with a sigh. "One I'm not exactly dressed to answer right now. Unless you really do want to gouge out your own eyeballs anyway."

"Please don't ask," Sanji said with a shutter, just don't. He then brightened considerably. "In fact, if Luffy could stay in this one I would be perfectlyYYY!"

He stopped speaking as Luffy smashed him upside the head, hard enough to leave a bump and send Sanji sprawling to the ground. "None of that," he said mildly.

 _Still,_ Luffy thought seriously as he she turned back to glance out over the ocean again. _I hope they're all right._

 **OOOOOOO**

Nami and Makino had in point of fact found in actual an island, one made of stone and earth rather than cloud stuff sticking up out of the white ocean to the south and east of Angel Island. But there was something really weird about it, which caused Nami to slow the engine down as they approached, both women staring at it in shock, Makino even forgetting what she wanted to talk to Nami about.

The entire island seemed covered with monstrous, vastly overgrown vegetation. A single tree, the same kind of tree they had seen on Jaya looked the size of an entire apartment complex almost, soaring into the air for several dozen stories and being wider than most houses. And the growth was from seemingly one end of the island to the other. As they coasted around, neither of them could see any break in it save for where a large river ran into the interior. There were a few other rivers here and there, all created via cloud stuff keeping up the water, but that was all.

"That's amazing," Makino muttered, staring at the growth in awe.

"It looks amazing, but how did those trees grow so huge?!" Nami muttered, staring at it in awe.

"Think about it," Makino said, resting her chin on the other girl's shoulder as they looked at the island. "The nutrients up here must've caused it somehow."

"Even the size of that bird we saw?" Nami asked. It'd taken a few minutes for both of them to realize what it was, but the bird they had spotted high in the sky turned out to be a giant version of the South Bird that had helped guide them across the ocean to the Knockup Stream.

"Even then," Makino said with a nod. "If they eat other animals which have taken in those nutrients, or even eat berries and fruits themselves that have those nutrients inside, they could grow to that size over a few generations."

"I guess that makes sense," Nami said before going on wryly. "Or as much sense as anything on the Grand Line ever does."

The two of them shared a low giggle at that, but inwardly they were very worried. Here and there in the foliage of the trees were small carved masks, some of them looking like do not enter signs, and others primitive but still scary masks. Occasionally they could also here the roar of animals or something deeper inside.

They rounded a small bend of the island into a culvert cut out of the island and paused as they saw a ship moored there. It was heavily damaged, and looked quite old, but it was obviously a pirate vessel judging by the skull and cross bones flag still flying from the mainmast, though that mainmast had been shattered and was hanging off the side of the ship. There was no one around, but that wasn't nearly as worrisome as the damage done to the ship.

Makino tied them up to it, and both women hopped aboard, looking around. Makino in particular looked at the damage done to the ship, frowning thoughtfully while Nami was busy looking for any treasure or logbooks.

A lot of the damage was self-explanatory, looking like massive impacts or sharp objects had struck the ship. The damage almost looked like fire damage but not quite. And it looked as if there had been some kind of fight at one end of the ship, but the two secondary masts had been destroyed by something else. _That could have been caused by lightning strikes but against both secondary masts That beggars belief. Unless…_ Makino frowned, a thought trying to niggle at the back of her mind but it wouldn't quite come to the fore.

Her search was interrupted by a voice shouting out something nearby, causing her to turn quickly, her pistol suddenly in her hands. But the voice was coming from a small shell Makino recognized as a dial, which had just been pecked by a bird, the bird squawking and flying off at the voice from it.

Nami hurried up from down in the ship, and for a moment the two of them listened to the message left on the dial, shuddering a little at the sound of the background and the accompanying screams. "W, what was that?" Nami asked her eyes wide and fearful.

"I don't know," Makino said, looking around at the ship then at the dial. "I don't know, but we'll be taking that with us and be getting back to the others right now!"

Nami nodded instantly and the two girls returned to the Waver, which they started to punt out and away from the edge of the island. They tried to be as quiet as they could, now fearful that someone was going to attack them for being there at all.

As they went they heard something in the distance, some kind of crashing noise moving through the forest and paused, ducking down and moving the Waver closer to the island so that the edge of it hid them from view. They stopped the dial engine, and hid there, with Makino getting her guns out again.

There were screams now, and the sounds of some huge animal barking. This was followed by the sound of combat, and voices arguing about who's 'pray' it was. The two women exchanged glances, and Makino nodded towards the front of the dial then back out to sea with a jerk of her head. Nami nodded, understanding that they should take this time to get out of here before anyone else notices them, regardless of the noise.

Nami was about to turn them around when a man crawling on his knees burst out of the jungle underbrush. He was dressed like a sailor, with brown hair, and a wide fearful face, his clothes and body both scuffed to a tremendous degree, blood coming from a few cuts. He looked back the way he had come fearfully, then down at the Waver, eyes widening when he saw it and the two women inside it. "You, girls! Let me on! Get me out of here!"

"Who are you?" Makino asked, her tone calm even as Nami began to tremble a little, the fear the man was showing affecting her.

"Damnit, let me on!" The man shouted, whipping out a gun and pointing it at the two of them. "They know I'm…!" He paused as Makino had quickly raised to her own pistol pointing it back at him. His eyes were wild and wide, his fingers twitching, and Makino was afraid he would fire. She was in no danger, and she could probably protect Nami too, but the shot would probably get the attention of whoever was chasing the man.

Then the man looked up into the sky as it suddenly began to blaze with light.

"Now Nami!" Makino shouted into the other girl's ear and Nami revved the dials, pushing them away from the edge of the island. Behind them, a massive beam of light of some kind slammed down into the man. Both he and the area around him disappeared into the light, leaving behind a segment of the island that had been seemingly carved off like someone had taken a hot poker to it.

All this Makino saw as she looked back over her shoulder, with Nami pushing the dial to its fastest setting the two of them racing away faster than even Luffy could have run on dry land. The two of them stayed silent until they were out of sight of the island and turning towards where Nami could somehow tell the _Resolve_ was. Then Makino spoke. "So, this place isn't quite the paradise we thought."

"Something is there," Nami replied, shaking her head, "something scary." Then she looked over her shoulder at Makino and said deadpan "Why do I think they were going to get involved with whatever it is?"

"Because you're starting to understand how Luffy's luck works?" Makino asked innocently, causing the younger girl to groan. Then she smirked. "Now, about that talk…"

 **OOOOOOO**

Back on the beach Hina smiled down at Chopper as he finally removed the last of the bandages on her arms. He checked first her fingers, then her hands wrists and everything else, okaying each portion as he went. "Thank you Doctor Chopper, that was very well done." While Chopper had said that Devil Fruit users healed quickly, Hina had overused her powers before, and well knew that the wounds she had taken should have taken her out of action for at least several days, if not longer. Not even a full day after she had been injured, that was amazingly fast and spoke to Chopper's skills as a doctor.

"Your praise doesn't matter to me at all asshole!" Chopper said, dancing in place, clapping his hubs together as he did so muttering the last word several times. "Asshole, asshole!"

"Really, you look quite happy to me. Hina amused." Hina replied with a chuckle.

With that, she stood up and stretched, cracking her knuckles explosively as she looked around at her crew. "Now," she shouted, waking up Zoro from nearby where he'd been sleeping underneath the castle Chopper it made earlier. "It seems to Hina that she has been slacking off with training her crew! If only four of you have been able to move around and act normally up here due to the altitude, the rest of you need **far** more training!"

As they had still been staring at her bikini clad form this took a while to sink in, but when it did, the marines all started to groan. "Anyone who can stand get on your feet," Hina roared at them. "I'm going to train you until you drop for real!"

Hina was surprised however when most of her crew obeyed quickly, lining up in front of her and staring at her avidly. It was only then that she realized she was, indeed, still wearing the bikini she had put together. _Well,_ she thought philosophically, _whatever motivation they need to do better I suppose._

"Form a line!" she said then set off at a march then a jog, then a sprint along the shoreline. Once she was speeding along, Hina bellowed behind her "If I turn around at the edge of the beach and you weren't all within 50 paces of me I'll use my lock power on you all, then force you to do squats until your arms fall off!"

With the carrot racing ahead of them in a bikini and the stick firmly in mind, the marines finished three circuits of the beach in this fashion while Zoro and Chopper looked on. But they stopped when a loud shout of "You there!" echoed from nearby. They stopped and turned to stare at a group of soldiers of some kind making their way down from the distant town towards them on the wide, long stairwell set to one side of the beach.

These men wore pantaloons and camo armor, a kind of grey and light blue and a beret on their heads. They were all men and all of course had the wings of the locals and what looked like knives or short swords at their waists. They also marched like a well-drilled unit and Hina had to give a nod to have her head instructed them. The group formed up behind whoever their officer was, who saluted quickly, staring at the Marines and then from them to the _Resolve_ still at anchor nearby. "Good afternoon. We are the White Berets. We keep the peace in Skypiea and I, Captain McKinley, are here to check up on a few things."

Hina shrugged. "A moment please, I must make myself presentable. Hina presentable." She moved over to where she had left her marine officer's greatcoat and pulled it on entirely rather than let it hang loose from her shoulders, tying it around her waist before moving towards them and snapping her fingers at her troops. "Rest at ease!" she barked.

They nodded, and stood with her hands pressed behind their backs, legs akimbo like the white berets across from them.

The fact that they stood between their wounded and these White Berets was not lost on Hina, and she nodded slightly in approval at that to Fullbody. She also saw Zoro wedging himself out from under the castle with Chopper's help, but ignored that for now. "I am Captain Hina, these are my men. Was there something wrong with our paperwork or whatever it was Amazon needed money for?"

"Indeed," the man said quickly and grimly, moving around her line of Marines and gesturing towards the wounded. "It was our understanding that these wounded would die shortly upon arrival, and would be buried at sea. That they have not died means we must check on their health, and if they are healthy enough to live, they will need to pay the entrance fine as well."

Hina's eyes narrowed, but she slowly nodded, willing to obey the local laws so long as they did not get in her way overmuch. "How much is that?"

"Since you did not pay the fine for these men immediately upon entrance, it will be doubled," the man said briskly, looking at each of the wounded in turn and then gesturing towards the boat. "Further, there is a fee for docking here, even if you do not go to the actual docks."

He then spotted the large fat fish that had attempted to take a chomp out of Luffy earlier when he had been trying out Pagaya's Waver. "And this fish, good grief! This fish is an endangered species! That is yet another fine!"

Hina's eyebrows rose before she let a smirk appear on her face. "Hina will agree to pay for her men either in Beli or in some kind of work release concept. The fish will need to be paid for by the captain of the _Resolve_ , along with the fine for dropping anchor here."

"And where is that Captain?" McKinley asked coolly.

Zoro stepped forward now, his arms crossed, and all three of his swords at his side. Hina wondered where they'd come from, since he hadn't had them on when he'd been buried underneath Chopper's castle but set that minor mystery aside as Zoro spoke. "My captain and a few of our crew aren't here. I'm the first mate. How much is this fine, and what is the exchange rate again?"

He waited calmly as the other man spoke, his eyes narrowing as he glared at the man. "And what will you do if we can't pay?"

"We will impound your ship and take your wounded under custody, until they are paid for. Luckily nothing you have done so far is much worse than a Class Four crime, so jail time will help offset some of your costs, but you will have to work to pay it back if you do not have the ready cash available. And I am afraid it will have to be in Extol. We do not allow monetary exchanges anywhere but at the gateway." McKinley said coldly.

"And if we don't want you to take our wounded?" Hina asked coldly, taking a long drag from her cigarette and blowing it out, before snuffing it out and replacing it in her small pouch of her greatcoat. She'd been willing to go along with the local laws up to a certain point, but she surely was not going to let them take her wounded.

"That would be a Class Five crime, resisting arrest," McKinley said grimly, pulling out his swords and twirling them expertly. "We would have to take you all into custody by force."

Zoro smirked evilly, pulling out his own twin swords, not even bothering to place Wado Ichimonji into his mouth. "In that case, you can come and try."

Hina shrugged, cracked her neck and shoulders and then her fingers, before closing them into fists. Behind her, her fellow Marines all did the equivalent, pulling out pistols and cutlasses while Fullbody body stepped forward, slamming his steel knuckles together with a resounding clang. "Bring it on!"

"Foolish Blue Sea dwellers" McKinley shouted, one hand reaching down to his pocket and throwing out a dial, which rapidly bloomed into a thin road made of white cloud, which he leaped onto, zooming towards them on small dials on his feet. At the same time the rest of them flew every which way, pulling out bows and arrows while flying using the same method as McKinley did. "You think you can fight our Dial Combat!?"

In reply Zoro leaped up to land on top of it, but found his footing kind of not the best. His feet actually sunk into the cloud, reducing his movement speed. He was forced to concentrate on his defense for a time, before seeing an opening. Instantly his swords flicked out, slicing out at one man's waist then at another's ankles so fast the movement could barely be followed. McKinley, the first one, blocked the blow with his knife, but the second scored, cutting along that man's legs, and dumping him off his cloud with a cry of agony.

Seeing this, Hina did not follow suit, staying grounded. She raced forward, twisting this way and that, slamming out with her Lock-lock power every time she touched one of them or one of the clouds. This caused trouble for all of them, dumping three of them flying away, rolling off of their roads as if they'd hit a roadblock. Once they were on the ground they were dealt with by her men, who at her shouted orders took them prisoner.

But the archers who had decided to get some distance began to fire down at the Marines, who were quick to spread out and fire back. A few of the bullets hit some of the wounded, and one of them died before Chopper was there, moving this way and that, in guard point mode, blocking the bullets further. "Damn you! What the hell did we ever do to you?!"

The leader of the White Berets engaged Zoro sword to sword, zooming this way and that, flipping up and around, trying to get through Zoro's defense, using his mobility to his greatest advantage. But the difference in skill was just too great, and he couldn't break Zoro's defense even though Zoro could not move.

But seeing the others being hard-pressed Zoro pushed away from him getting a little bit of a distance and reached down to his waist pulling out his third sword which he clamped into his mouth.

"You think adding a third sword is going to make any difference!" McKinley shouted, having now gathered several others around him and zoomed higher into the air to get away from Hina's bizarre powers. They now all charged Zoro. McKinley had been able to tell by this point that he, Hina, and Fullbody, who had already been taken out, were the main threats here. The others didn't seem able to deal with their dial combat style.

Zoro smirked at them all and then his swords flashed forward as he snarled out "36 Poundo Ho (36 pound cannon)!"

The air attack zoomed forward from his outstretched hands, slicing into the roads and the people. The air hurled them backwards in a welter of blood and bits of sliced clouds and dials having shattered their swords.

Of course this commotion had garnered some attention from the nearby house, and Sani and Luffy arrived quickly. Seeing this, one of the White Berets called a retreat, and carrying their leader away, those White Berets still on their feet retreated quickly up the stairs they had arrived by.

Meeting Luffy as she landed, Hina growled angrily, pointing up after the retreating White Berets, explaining what had been going on. "Did they honestly think any captain worth their salt would've let you take their wounded! Hina disgusted! We would have been accommodating, if they had been accommodating in turn. They were trying to create jumped up charges for us from the very beginning, that is not the law, that is gross corruption!"

"W, what have you done?" shouted Pagaya, from where he had hurried down to the beach with Conis and Ranma staring at the half dozen White Berets who had been abandoned by their fellows. Conis was staring in horror her hands covering her mouth as Pagaya spoke. "This is a Class Six crime! This will be bring God's wrath down on you"

The two of them looked at one another and backed away quickly. "As such," Pagaya went on. "I'm sorry, but we can no longer associate with you. I will bring your jet dial down when I am finished preparing it, but please stay away from our house for now."

Luffy shrugged, exchanging a glance with Robin before moving over to lay back out on some of the lounge chairs, Robin following her with a small frown on her face. "We might as well make ourselves comfortable."

"I just hope Nami and Makino are all right!" Sanji said, staring out to sea.

"We're fine too love cook, thanks for asking" Zoro grumped.

"Bah, who cares about you!?" Sanji shouted back, butting heads while Luffy shook her head staring out to sea and willing Nami and Makino to hurry up and get back. She was getting bored here, and this entire island smelled too much of adventure for that to last.

 **End Chapter**

* * *

 **From here on out I get to play with nearly everything that makes up the Skypiea arc, and I will love it HAHAHAHHA. Stay tuned, and when I post the January small story poll, remember to vote!**


	17. Chapter 17

I am not named Oda or Rumiko.

Well, it's been a long time coming folks but here it is, the next chapter of Stallion of the Line. It finally won the poll, with 1332 total votes beating out FILFy Teacher at 1221. FILFy will be updated next month, because not only did this chapter run longer – by about 10,000 words - but I also ran into several walls with FILFy and the fallout from the last chapter. Shifting from serious to funny then back to serious can be really hard LOL! The other two new chapters this month were both patty on only works, the next chapter of Making Waves my Fairy Tail/Ranma cross, and the next chapter of Bhaalson Remodel, a Harry Potter/Gamer/Baldur's Gate crossover.

A brief note: I try to differentiate by how people address Enel in this chapter. The Shandians call him Kami. Raffy and co. call him God. The Skypieans call him Kami-sama. This is because of the difference in tone and reverence, each show when using that title/name/term. I hope it works without becoming too confusing.

This has been edited by myself _Tomon_ and _Hiryo_. Despite that, none of us are small mistake guys, so there will be more small mistakes than normal, but not as many as there might have been thanks to _Hiryo_ and _Tomon_ 's efforts.

* * *

 **Chapter 17: Lies, the Direct Approach, and Lurking**

At the same time that Nami and Makino were flying away from where they had just seen someone be executed through a lightning blast larger than most houses, on the other side of the island a little girl was making her own getaway. She was a tiny thing, about 12 perhaps, but short for that, with hair of a dark brown-purple color, small wings, and wearing a smock of multiple colors, just like the headband she wore. All of it was dirty at present but looked well cared for.

She smirked to herself holding her bag as if it was the most precious thing in the world as she crawled onto her tiny Waver. She waited a few seconds as lightning ripped the distant sky before she activated the engine, and slowly, silently made her way away from Upper Yard. "Until next time, our ancient home," she whispered, her voice lost in the wind.

She kept on moving as slowly as she could until she was well away from the island, then as if at some unseen signal quickly changed direction and speed. She did this several times before she made for an out of the way portion of Island Cloud set well away from the Holy Land or Angel Island. This example of cloud mixed with the gaseous version of Seastone, which was the basis for every island in the White Sea, looked as if it was completely uninhabited. There were no buildings, no sign of habitation, not even any animals.

There she hid her little Waver underneath a fold of the land, tying it down securely there and patting it affectionately before making her way deeper into the island's interior. Then, at a spot that had nothing to mark it out from any other on the island the little girl stopped. She looked around, then, certain she was being unobserved, reached down, her hand plunging into the Island Cloud. As she pulled her hand up, she brought with it a portion of the cloud, which was revealed to be a cutout false top, hiding beneath it a long tunnel leading down into the interior of the Island Cloud.

She hopped down it, uncaring of the danger of the landing, and rolled as she landed, grinning as she did. She then raced away, only to be stopped by a loud voice. "And where've you been?"

She turned in the direction of the voice, frowning angrily at having been found out. "Gah, Kamakiri!" she grunted, backing away as she put her arms protectively over her bag.

"You went off by yourself and tried to steal some vearth again didn't you? You're not supposed to be away from the village, and you know it, Aisa," the so-named Kamakiri went on.

He was a decently tall young man with sun-tanned skin and a short mohawk hairstyle with round sunglasses that had red lenses. He also had two big and colored earrings hanging from his ears. He wore a kilt of leaves and had a long skateboard next to him along with a spear and the hilt of a sword at his belt minus the blade for some reason, with a shawl of dark pink feathers around his shoulders. Aisa knew he had taken it from a bird in the Holy Land during a battle there.

Aisa rolled her eyes. "As if anyone could sneak up on me! In fact," she said somewhat smugly, "I think I've discovered something you all should hear."

That threw Kamakiri off, since normally at this point Aisa would mouth off and then run away, ignoring the fact that her statement was patently false. After all, hadn't his presence just surprised her? For all the power of her Mantra, Aisa's ability to understand what it was telling her was often quite poor, especially, for some reason, closer to her own position.

But he rolled with it, putting down his carving dagger and gesturing into the small village about a minute's walk from the entrance. "Right now? With your Mantra, you can surely tell that Wyper is not exactly happy with the world right now, or as close to it as he ever comes. Even if I did just surprise you…"

Aisa stuck her tongue out at Kamakiri and blew a raspberry at him for a second for that comment, but then her insouciance faded as she stared in the same direction, gulping. "Yeah, that's scary, scarier than Kami for certain. But…" she visibly steeled herself before going on. "I think they need to know what I felt up there."

The man snorted, but then smiled in approval at the little girl's courage, gesturing her to follow him. The two of them made their way through the village, with Aisa waving at a few of the older people, who simply nodded in her direction. Her smile brightened widely however as she saw people around the main tent, a tent shared by the village's war leader, Wyper, and the village chief. Spotting someone there, she raced ahead of Kamakiri waving one hand above her head. "Laki!"

The woman who turned toward Aisa at the call was a tall, black-haired woman, with her hair done in a long and elaborate ponytail at the back and two large bangs to either side of her face, framing dark green eyes. Her lips shone with pink lipstick, something she had actually created on her own from various pigments. Like all the tribesmen around them, she had two small wings on her back and wore a light purple tunic that showed a decent amount of cleavage, enough to scandalize most of the women of the tribe, something that Aisa knew Laki did on purpose. The fact her tunic also exposed her stomach made it worse in many of the old women's eyes. She wore light-red pants open to either side of her legs.

Laki smiled at Aisa before twitching her head and frowning. "And where have you been, Nuisance? I saw you weren't in the village earlier. Did you sneak off to try to steal some vearth again? One of these days your Mantra's going to fail you, you know."

"She didn't just try," Kamakiri interjected, chuckling while ruffling Aisa's hair roughly. "She actually did steal away some vearth."

"Yep!" Aisa said, throwing her chest out and her shoulders back. Not that this actually did anything. "I'm a proud warrior of our people too!"

"A warrior does not fight for the dirt of vearth, a warrior fights to reclaim our homeland! A warrior of Shandia is not sustained by these little trinkets, but by the desire to take back what is ours!" roared a voice from inside the tent.

Aisa quailed but didn't run away, staring at the tent flap as it opened. The man revealed was taller and wider than Kamakiri and more tanned as well, with a black mohawk, dark intense eyes, and a cigarette clenched between angry teeth. His was the face of someone who was made to hate, be angry and that was indeed the case. This was the warrior Wyper, the village war chief, the man who had inherited not only the blood but also the will of the great warrior Kalgara.

He glared down at the little girl and her pouch, reaching down and grabbing it out of her hand despite Aisa's protests. The circle-tattoos around his left eye intensifying the glare. He stared inside it then poured the dirt that had been inside out to one side, scuffing it up with his boot. "Is this what you break the village rules for? Is this what you think we fight for? The dirt under our feet?"

"No!" Aisa shouted, trembling a little. "But, it was all I could carry away."

"So then are we bandits, to only care about what we can have in our hands?" Wyper shouted angrily at her.

"Calm down Wiper!" shouted Laki and the woman warrior got in his face, glaring at him. "She's a child still. Let the young ones take what comfort they can. Besides, Aisa shows courage enough to even think of going up there on her own. That kind of thing should be encouraged."

"You do her no good by codling her, Laki!" Wiper growled. "Weakness like her love of Vearth. We don't need it. If you can't understand that, perhaps you should remain in the village and take up a woman's real work?"

Laki was the only woman warrior in the tribe, and indeed was the first one in many centuries, if ever. She disdained women's work and had thrown herself into training with the other young braves who had grown to be the strongest in the village, earning her place among them. Indeed, she did so without many of the weapons she herself had designed, making a point of using a simple rifle and the Waver skates that were the normal weapons of a Shandian warrior.

However, of late Wyper had begun to push her to stop trying to be a warrior. Some thought this was because he held more than friendly feelings towards her, but Laki had pushed back against the very idea hard, refusing to be pigeon-holed like that.

"Oh, we don't need hope? Do you think we all eat rage and anger like you? Then I suppose when you next break your Burn Bazooka you can fix it with your glare too," Laki shot back.

On top of Wyper's issue with her continuing to be a warrior, the two of them had been having this kind of fight for several years now. Wyper was all about attacking and continuing to attack as often as possible, believing in doing so they could wear Kami and his Priests down. But Laki thought that was stupid, and they needed new ways of attack somehow, which was why she had first started to design new weapons. By this point many of the elite of the village used them such as Kamakiri's burning blade, Wyper's Burn Bazooka and others, using up a lot of the village's supply of the Blue Sea material called iron. She felt they should wait until they had enough similar weapons to just overwhelm the priests' use of the mysterious ability, Mantra.

Laki's words had never gotten through to Wyper or his warriors. They disdained her words as much as they loved the weapons she had created for them. They thought that if a warrior needed to wait to have a better weapon before fighting, they were not warrior enough to win on their own merits. Wyper, in particular, refused to wait a moment longer than necessary to free the home of their ancestors. In return, she fought with the bare minimum to prove her worth to them and never backed down from a fight despite being the only female warrior in the tribe.

The two of them glared at one another and would've kept it up for a while if not for another man coming out and putting his body between them. He was a muscular man who wore a green jacket open at the front coupled with, for some reason, the upper-half of his face covered by a hat. Like the other warriors, he wore a grass skirt, but his was decorated with a red sash around his waist. He also had a pair of gloves on his hands taken from a dead Skypiean a few years ago. "Enough of this, Wyper. Laki is an honored warrior of the Tribe, you insult her by such words. And Laki, you have to admit Wyper's right. The hunt for vearth has killed several of us. Just because Aisa's got Mantra isn't any reason to think she couldn't be caught out if the priests really try to."

That man was followed by another man, this one was far older, with a long bristly beard, and a full headdress on his crooked back. "Braham is right, we do no one any good sniping at one another like this. Besides," he said, turning a kindly smile on Aisa. "Aisa would not be here in front of this tent now if she didn't have something important to say."

At that Laki nodded, moving over to the little girl and kneeling beside her, throwing an arm around her shoulder companionably. "Well nuisance, what did your Mantra tell you? Is there anything interesting going on up top?"

Wyper and the other warriors scoffed, but didn't say anything, also looking down at the little girl. It was well known that Aisa's use of Mantra had begun at her birth and had only grown since. And as she was the only Shandian who could use it, she was something of a village treasure, which was why Wyper and Kamakiri had come down on her so hard.

Aisa smiled up at them, all of her initial courage racing back into her now, as she reported. "Well first, a few of the prisoners that we know the Kami and his soldiers took from the last Blue Sea ship to arrive here tried to make a break for it." There were several scoffs at that, and she went on hurriedly. "None of them made it, but one of them actually got to the edge of the holy land, and Kami Enel blasted him personally."

"So Kami deigned to notice mere slaves? I suppose that just means that his soldiers are growing incompetent! Good, that will make tonight's raid all the easier," Wyper said, but he still was staring at the girl. "But that's not enough to force you to come to the big tent. What else?"

Aisa gulped, staring at the wounds on Wyper, remembering how yesterday he had come back from his self-imposed patrol on the White-White Sea banged up and angry after an encounter with some Blue Sea dwellers who had somehow chased him off. _This isn't going to go over well_ she thought. _Maybe I should've thought about this more. But no, the village has to know!_

"There's, there are a lot of Blue Sea dwellers up there now too. I could barely feel them at the edge of my Mantra, but there are at least forty of them, maybe more. And some of them, some of them are strong!"

"Explain that," Wyper said, crossing his arms, even as he bit down hard on the smoking route in his mouth. "What do you mean strong? How can you tell? Your Mantra can't work like that."

"It, it kind of can for the strongest people. When you are angry, or um… you…" Aisa said which caused Laki to burst into laughter. "I can feel wherever you are far better than I can someone like Miss Martha, or well, the village chief. Sorry chief," Aisa said looking at the village chief, shrugging her shoulders.

He simply laughed, waving it off as if it was no concern, which to him it was. He well knew that Wyper was stronger than him, in many ways. That was why he had pinned the hopes of the Great Warrior Kalgara on him. "Go on."

"Well, I think there are three or four really strong ones among the Blue Sea dwellers. At, at least I think that's what my Mantra is trying to tell me, they kind of, kind of glow in my Mantra, like, like they are bigger than normal people only not? It's hard to describe. But I felt two other Blue Sea dwellers trying to get to the holy land," she went on, hurriedly knowing this was not going to sound good. Indeed, the second those words were out of her mouth Wyper roared out in anger, slamming his foot down on the reinforced trigger of his Burn bazooka, while the other warriors muttered angrily.

"They left quickly," Aisa went on, shaking her head. "I mean they were near to where Kami killed that other Blue Sea dweller and they ran away."

"Maybe they'll actually heed our warnings now and leave quickly. We don't need that kind of complication," Braham said, frowning.

Laki shrugged ignorance and uncaring in one. _Although I'd love to raid their ship for parts, maybe. Something to think about._

"Complication!" Wyper sneer. "We don't need another set of enemies!"

"I don't think they'll run," Aisa said courageously quelling only slightly as Wyper turned to glare at her. "Those two, they weren't strong, at least from what I could tell. But the others, they're strong. I don't think they'll run," she said again.

"Thank you for the report young warrior," the village chief said before anyone else could speak. "However, you know that you broke the rules in leaving the village alone. You're going to have to be punished for that."

Aisa scowled but nodded. She probably could have gotten in and out of the village without anyone the wiser, if she had put off this trip another day or so, but she hadn't wanted to. She had sensed something at the edge of her Mantra, which had turned out to be the Blue Sea dwellers, and it had roused her curiosity enough to get her out of the village earlier than she had initially planned.

She was still curious about them, and why a few of them seemed to almost glow in her Mantra with power. It was odd and was only something she had ever seen before in Kami at one point when she got close enough to him to sense him directly. That had been more than enough though, and Aisa had never tried to sense Kami again.

Wyper frowned, staring at the little girl. "These Blue Sea dwellers don't matter," he said shaking his head angrily. "If they come at us, we'll fight them, if they appear on our lands, we'll fight them. They get in our way, we'll fight them. But they're not our priority. Our priority is Kami and his followers! And if they're willing to kill off prisoners who tried to escape, that might mean that whatever they have been preparing for his near completion. I don't think anyone here wants that, do we?"

All the warriors around him nodded, including Laki who had first thought up that theory. There had to be a reason why Kami was so interested in taking prisoners, and where were the old Kami's Enforcers? None of them had been seen since the new Kami had taken over nine years ago. So where were they?

And, more importantly to the Shandians, why were the Four Priests of the new Kami so furious in their defense of the whole of Upper Yard, the Shandians rightful homeland? Before the new Kami's had taken over some years ago, the Shandians had routinely clashed throughout Upper Yard with the old Kami's forces. Now they barely could make it a few miles inland before being halted and then forced to retreat without making any headway. Laki felt they were being put to work somewhere, doing something for the Kami, though she had no more idea what it could be than anyone else.

Despite that and her help in building weapons, Wyper was still of two minds about having a woman warrior. Setting aside his own feelings about Laki, there was no doubting her skill, but it did go against all tradition. Then again, Laki's very existence was a bit beyond the bounds of tradition given her father had been a Blue Sea dweller who had a one-night stand with her mother. The fact the woman had a one-night stand was one thing, the fact she had carried Laki to term had been another and had stained her in the eyes of the tribe for quite a while.

"Good," Wyper said, putting that thought aside now. "In that case, I want every brave within the tribe ready to go, we attack tonight."

Laki scoffed, shaking her head and looking away. She had long ago learned that trying to talk Wyper out of something was next to impossible and this attack wasn't going to be any different. It's not going to be different in that and it isn't going to be different in how pointless it is. Unless something new is added, the priests and we are going to stay locked in the stalemate! I thought the weapons I made might break the stalemate, but they haven't yet, and Wyper and the others refuse to wait until I figure out more.

 **OOOOOOO**

At the same time that the little girl was having her audience with the warriors, Makino and Nami were making their way over the White-White Sea back to their friends. After a few minutes of silence, Makino spoke up from where she was holding onto Nami's back and waist, her head pressed into the back of the other girl's. "Well, that was monstrously scary."

"You can say that again," Nami said with a shudder that Makino felt through her body.

"Well, that was monstrously scary," Makino said, and she could feel Nami roll her eyes before the orange-haired girl turned to glare at her. "What? It wasn't exactly the scariest thing I've ever seen. It was… just up there, that's all."

"Do you not have any fear whatsoever?" she asked.

Makino blinked at her, "Nami, I'm a jilted woman, jilted by a pirate who later turned out to be Red Hair Shanks, one of the Four Yonko. While everyone else would have stopped and let it go as simply a bad business, I came out onto the high seas with Luffy as my captain. What part of this tells you that I have any issue with being courageous?"

To this comment, Nami again rolled her eyes but still smiled. There was just something about the other woman when talking about Shanks that amused her. And that was added to the solid, dependable presence that Makino seemed to put out.

Then she shook her head, turning back to watch the way they had come. Makino noticed in amusement that Nami had still been piloting them forward with seemingly little effort while her head had been turned. _So much for the Waver being difficult for most people to use._

The two women fell silent for a time as they zoomed on over the crystal-clear water. "So much for this place being a paradise," Nami said, breaking the silence this time. "Now, how to figure out how to convince Luffy to not get involved in whatever this is."

"You'd have to offer him more adventure than whatever is going on here, and I don't see that happening," Makino quipped, shaking her head. Even so, she was a little worried about what she'd just seen too even with her faith in Luffy's strength and the abilities of their crew.

For now, she put that aside, leaning in to whisper in Nami's ear. "So, I think we were talking about our captain earlier, and certain… feelings you might have for him, hmm~?"

Nami twitched in her arms and she revved the Breath Dial engine loudly. "What was that I can't hear you!"

"Don't try to play that game with me Nami, I've seen the looks you shoot him sometimes, come on, you can tell me. Are you crushing on our captain, do you just like his body or is it something deeper?" Makino cajoled, only to be nearly thrown off the Waver despite her arms around Nami's waist as the girl twisted them nearly on to their side.

"I am not talking about this," Nami replied sternly. "Drop it, Makino."

"Humph, fine, but you're going to have to open up to someone eventually, or are you really happy to just look at him from afar as it were?" Makino retorted, to which Nami said nothing, causing the older woman to shake her head.

For as soft and squishy as Nami was physically, she was a porcupine emotionally. And, to be fair, I have to wonder if Nami has missed the boat anyway. It really did look like Robin and Luffy had been on a date back in Mock Town. That is a little weird to me given their age difference, but then again, they have been flirting on and off, since Robin first joined the crew after Cactus Island. And while Robin is older, Luffy might need someone mature and calm to offset his wilder nature.

Makino was still thinking about the possible love triangle cropping up among the crew when they zoomed in towards the beach, but as they did, both women noticed that some things had changed. First, Hina was no longer dressed in her bikini, she had instead dressed up once more in her normal marine officer's garb.

Second, Nami saw several prisoners lined up to one side in chains, their small white wings signaling they were locals and there several dozen wounded marines being seen to by Chopper. Zoro sat nearby leaning against a tree, while Robin and Luffy were, once more, laid out on two lounge chairs, sunning themselves as Sanji moved from serving them and, apparently doing Hina's bidding.

"What the hell happened here?" Nami shouted as they rode up the shoreline. She hopped off the Waver, stomping over to loom over Luffy, who looked up at her, one eyebrow rising to become visible from behind the sunglasses she was wearing. "Do you have any idea how dangerous it is around here, and you go and start a fight with the locals!"

"Why the heck are you just assuming it was me?" Luffy asked, attempting to look affronted, which didn't work very well with this audience. "Fine, normally yeah you'd be right, but this time I didn't do it."

Nami almost gawked at him, then looked around at the others who were nodding and pointing to the Marines and Hina in particular. Hina huffed, glaring at the younger girl with her arms crossed. "Well, are you going to try to browbeat Hina for protecting my crew from the local's slandering us? Hina unrepentant."

At that Nami grumbled but said nothing, shaking her head and turning back to her crew. "What happened?"

"I'll note she didn't take you up on your challenge Hina," Luffy said with a chuckle.

"It shows much wisdom from one so young… and breakable," Hina replied in a droll tone.

But Luffy had already turned to Makino, cocking an eyebrow at her, silently asking the older woman why Nami seemed to be in a mood. "You were saying?"

The older woman related the tale from start to finish, with Luffy beginning to grin, as wide as his face could allow. Wider even than his facial muscles should. I see, so, a land where you really, really can't go, fascinating! We're going there right now. As soon as possible"

"Oh hell no! Bad Luffy," Nami said, moving over and smacking the redhead on the nose with her fingers. "This is not the kind of adventure I want to be a part of!

"Too late," Luffy said with a laugh. "What part about pirates is vague?" _Hmm, I wonder I could make that our catchphrase or something? Although, given how few actual pirate acts we have done, it might not be the best one I can come up with._

Zoro chuckled, while Sanji looked as if he was somewhat of the same mind as Nami. Although if that was because he actually agreed with her, or because he wanted to look good in front of her, Luffy couldn't tell. "I agree with the captain. This kind of exploration sounds like a lot of fun, and frankly, while Conis and her old man are decent enough, the rest of the locals we've met have been assholes. Anything that gets up their noses is something I'm in favor of, for certain."

"Let's put it to a vote, who here doesn't want to do this thing that no one in their right mind would want to do because no one here is that freaking stupid!" Nami said raising her hand.

It took a moment for most of the others to work out what she had just said, before Sanji raised his hand, although he looked torn. "Chopper, you're supposed to be on my side!" Nami said, pouting, then looking at Makino who shrugged her shoulders.

"What side is that?" Chopper asked, even as he was trying to work out what Nami had just said.

"The sensible squad!" Nami said.

"But isn't Robin also sensible, and she didn't vote that way, right? Er, I, I'm kind of scared about this unknown land and our breaking the local taboo, but um, well, I, I don't want to, to let my fear's vote for me. So I'll abstain." With that, Chopper turned back to his current patient, finishing up working on his broken elbow.

"And it wouldn't have mattered anyway. My crew, I'm the captain. What I say goes. And if I think this sounds like a lot of fun, that's it, we go. You can try to persuade me, you can argue against it, but the final decision's mine," Luffy said firmly, crossing her arms under her chest even as she stayed where she had been since Nami and Makino returned, laid out on the lounge chair.

"Indeed, this sounds fascinating, and I am all for exploring unknown territory," Robin said, even as she sent a smirk Luffy's way, who uncrossed her arms and let one hand smack against the outside of Robin's hand, which caused Robin's hand to twitch slightly in response. It was subtle but that was fine by them.

Nami scowled, shaking her head angrily at Luffy's words. She knew the aqua-transsexual was right, but she hated the fact he was seemingly being so cavalier with their lives. Although Makino had calmed her down somewhat, Nami's sense of self-preservation, which had always been greater than the majority of the other people in the crew, was telling her that getting further involved in Skypiea was a bad idea. "W, Well I'm not going! Chopper, Sanji and I can stay here, and the rest of you can go off and get yourselves killed," she said huffily.

"You want to stay with the Marines then?" Makino asked. "I would rather not enter this forbidden land either if it meant running into more attacks like what wiped out that seaman earlier, but I think we'll be safer with the crew than without.

Hina smirked from where she had been watching all this, and now having heard her crew mentions she moved forward to join the discussion. "Hina has decided that she will try to talk to the locals again. If she can get them convinced that the Marines are who we say we are, officers of the law down on the Blue Sea as they put it and hand over our prisoners, perhaps we can get a ship that will be able to take us back down. Hina hopeful."

Luffy shrugged as she stood up, cracking her neck, shoulders and arms, smiling happily at the idea of a new adventure. "Maybe, and if you want to try, that's up to you. Your crew, your rules after all. Even if you are a Marine. But my crew and I are heading out."

She frowned for a moment looking at Nami's rebellious expression and sighed. "Sanji, you stay with Nami here and the Marines. Our agreement lasts until my entire crew has left yours behind and we are all down to the Blue Sea Hina," he reminded the pink-haired marine. "Which means these two should be safe from you as you all were from us, right?"

Hina scoffed waving her hand. "As if Hina has any interest in small fry."

"Excuse me!?" Sanji growled out, his ego fighting his code of chivalry. "Those are hurtful words Hina-chwan, and I'll have you know while my bounty might not be much now… and, and my picture a poorly made drawing instead of a picture that does my handsomeness justice, one day I will make it big!"

"Bah, you'll always be small fry love cook. You spend too much time flirting to be anything else, number three," Zoro said, eluding to the fact that Sanji's bounty was the third largest on the crew, and that by only a million in comparison to Robin's, which she had earned more than a decade before.

"What did you say you national treasure!?" Sanji growled. "And of course I love the ladies, we can't all be happy with inanimate objects after all."

Ignoring the two arguing men, Hina marched up to the shorter redhead, almost pressing her chest into the redhead's face, causing Luffy to flush and Robin to frown before Hina poked Luffy in the ribs. "No, Hina is only interested in you. Don't think that this cease-fire will last any longer than it takes us to get down onto the real ocean again. I will catch you Luffy, me, Black Cage Hina. You'll pay for what you did and you will face justice. Hina determined."

"And what did I do exactly," the little redhead said, grabbing at Hina's hand, and pushing her away staring up at the taller woman angrily. Although, even now she couldn't help but notice that the woman's breasts were literally at eye height to her. "Besides stealing a ship from you marines, name one thing my crew and I have done that most would term piratical."

She waited, but Hina said nothing, merely glaring back at her, smoke wafting up from her cigarette. "No, if you want to come after me, come after me because you want to prove you're better than me in a fight. Don't try to hide it behind that false justice you Marines always prattle on about, not until you really can say you always serve justice and not the fat fucks in the World Government."

All the Marines in hearing range – which was most of them at this point - growled at that, but Hina simply scowled even fiercer, waving them to silence then took a deep drag of her cigarette, before blowing the smoke from it into Luffy's face. "Hina," she said, "wants to prove that she's better than you. Hina superior."

"Ha, now that's what I want ta hear from my marine rival!" Luffy said, giving her a thumbs up to which the other woman rolled her eyes. But she was smiling now, as she moved off to her Marines.

"You there," Hina shouted a second later towards a seemingly random piece of bush. "If you want your wounded and our other prisoners back, you must be willing to talk to us, rather than simply attack or hide away observing us. My requests will be simple, so long as you are willing to talk to us." The Bush for a moment stayed silent, and then Hina growled and pointed. "Marines prepare volley fire! The target will be that bush!"

Even as her crew rushed to prepare their remaining rifles and pistols, the commander of the White Berets popped up, scowling angrily. "How did you know I was there?"

"You suck at hiding," Luffy said behind Hina, shaking her head, while Zoro, Robin and Makino all nodded agreement.

The pink-haired woman marched up to the man, poking him hard in the chest and started to shout at him for causing the earlier incident. He, in turn, shouted back, and Luffy rolled her eyes turning back to her own crew.

"Oh my, you returned," said a new voice to one side, and to Luffy and the other's surprise, Conis stood there, looking at them and Nami and Makino in particular. "You returned from your excursion, did… does that mean you did not go to Upper Yard? Father and I were both worried about that."

"If by Upper Yard you mean the jungle, then we sort of stopped at the edge. But she…," Nami said pointing angrily at Luffy, "is determined to go back!"

"You, you don't want to just leave?" Conis said, pausing and cocking her head in confusion. Confusion, Makino realized, and a bit of trepidation, perhaps even fear. "Why in the world would you want to consciously break the taboo? Kami-sama will punish you."

Luffy shrugged. "Because we're pirates? Because this smells of adventure? Oh, and because a single light show, no matter how overcompensating, is going to be enough to make me change my mind."

Makino was watching Conis carefully now, frowning slightly at the little signs of fear that the woman couldn't quite hide. "Why does that bother you so much my dear?" she asked, stepping forward and giving the girl her best big sisterly (never motherly, not if you wanted to keep your teeth) smile.

The local girl faltered slightly, shaking her head. "It is, it is against the law to go to Upper Yard unless you are summoned by Kami-sama or his aides."

"But we're pirates, we explained that to you before. Surely that doesn't come as any great surprise, that we would not care overmuch about your laws. We're nice, don't get me wrong, and we're not exactly violent, but we certainly aren't going to just obey every law of the land."

"I suppose you're right, it shouldn't bother me when you put it like that, the woman replied ruefully, shrugging her thin shoulders. "But it somehow does. I, I just don't want to see you all put yourselves in danger like that, you all seem too nice for that kind of thing."

"So, what do you suggest we do?" Luffy asked.

"Escape. Leave back to the White Sea at least. There are a few ways you can get there from here. Would you like me to tell you about them?" Conis asked hopefully.

At Nami's look of hope, Luffy rolled her eyes. "Fine, but don't expect us to follow them. I'm still dead set on going to this Upper Yard place." She blinked, then smacked her hands together, "Oh right, we should stock up on food before we go. And do you think you could convince your father to finish fixing up that Waver we found?"

"I, I can certainly speak to him about it yes. And, um, I suppose we can take trade for food," Conis said hesitantly.

"I will handle that. And as part of our payment oh beauteous angel, I will whip up a feast fit for your fair self!" Sanji said with a deep, bow to her. Conis blushed visibly at his words, and the girls, including Luffy, exchanged smiles.

Nami was also excited if for a different reason. "Ooh, I'll go with you Sanji, I want to talk to Pagaya about the Waver, ooh, and maybe some Dials and furniture too. If you two are still willing to talk to us, I want to take advantage of that."

"Good thinking Nami," Luffy said with a nod. "In fact, why don't you both concentrate on that while the rest of us go exploring. I doubt we'll need food for this, though we'll need it once we really decide to leave. And with Sanji here to guard ya, those White Beret guys won't be a problem for you."

That caused Nami to both smile and frown, although only the smile was visible. One the one hand, she was, as per her earlier words, happy to be left behind, not wanting to go anywhere near Upper Yard again. But on the other hand, she was getting kind of tired of needing to be looked after. _Maybe some of the Dials can be made into a weapon of some kind for me._ "That sounds like a good idea."

It would have surprised Nami to know that Luffy's thoughts were along the same lines if with a very different emphasis. She wasn't interested in the Upper Yard just for its own sake, but for the Dials and the experience of fighting more of the locals. He wanted to get a better idea of what the Dials could do in combat, and maybe find someone who could start creating weapons from them if it was at all possible. Luffy was many things thanks to his/her old life as Ranma and could keep the ship in good repair whatever damage it took. But creating new weapons was beyond him. Still, despite that lack, she could already see a few ideas from the Dial weapons the White Berets had used, given what Hina and Zoro had said of them.

With a somewhat strained smile, Conis explained where the _Resolve_ should go as well as some about the various currents and such to get away from Angel Island. But once they did, she turned and led the way up the small side stairwell that led up to her and her father's house.

Leaving Nami and Sanji behind, the other five pirated piled onto the _Resolve_ and quickly pulled up anchor, getting underway and moving away from the beachhead. Zoro and Chopper manned the poles and pushed them further into deep water as Robin took the lookout position and Makino the tiller, while Luffy went inside to change clothing and gender in that order.

A minute later there was a noise from below them, a sort of scraping sound. The next second, two claws reached out of the water and grabbed at the broken wings sticking out from the sides of the ship. Luffy, who had just come back on deck, stared at them, before looking at the others. "So, this time I'm going to suggest a vote, gentlemen and ladies. Who here thinks this is a trap?"

Four hands or rather two regular hands went up, followed by Chopper's hoof and a hand appearing from the side of the mainmast giving a thumbs-up sign and Luffy nodded. "I thought so too."

As the ship picked up speed, he went on, still staring at the claws, while Zoro pulled out his swords in anticipation of action. "The question is, should we just go with the flow, let them try and trap us, before proving that catching a tiger by the tail is not exactly a good idea, or break out now and just not get trapped at all."

A mouth appeared above the hand on the mainmast, Robin unwilling to try to shout over the wind of their passage. "Not get trapped at all. Whatever else, letting your opponents dictate the battlefield is stupid, and while I am confident in our abilities that does not mean we should be that arrogant."

"Well in that case," so saying Luffy moved over to the side of the ship, looking over the side. Below them was a giant shrimp, its claws reaching out of the water to grasp the ship by its sides, its tail barely visible behind the aft of the ship, its head below the prow.

Luffy looked over at Zoro who nodded, and the two of them attacked. Luffy lashed out with a punch that smashed the claw on his side into pieces, both the outer shell and the inner meat causing the shrimp to lurch, which in turn caused the ship to heave over to one side, almost going into a circle. The next instant it's other claw was chopped off by Zoro. He'd had to try a little harder with his second swing, but he had been able to cut half of the claw off, breaking its grip.

The now badly wounded shrimp dove away from the _Resolve_ , but it was swiftly replaced by another, and another after that Robin saw a long line of them, a very odd kind of stream in the water heading to what was obviously a specific point. But the two fighters got into a rhythm, and after the seventh shrimp was crippled, and the water around them alive with sky sharks attacking the wounded, the shrimps decided to call it a day.

His hands dripping with bits of shell and crab, Luffy shook his head. "Now, let's make our own way to the Upper Yard place. And if we meet this God guy, I want to have a stern word with him about his hospitality."

 **OOOOOOO**

High above the so-called holy land of Upper Yard, a massive beanstalk loomed. It was truly a monstrous edifice, fit to dwarf any building that Luffy had seen even in his past life, a mountain made of green. And halfway up this beanstalk, there was a portion of Island Cloud the size of about a football field or so, which had been raised up by the beanstalk from the rest of the land below.

This was the true center of Kami-sama's land, the church as it were. These were the buildings, the reception center and sleeping quarters where Kami-sama and those who personally served him resided. And in its center was the throne, which held the man every being in Skypiea called Kami lounged, one bare foot over the side of his throne as he lolled indolently to the side.

He was an extremely tall man, standing at just a third under nine feet tall, with a muscular, toned body and light blonde hair which he covered by a simple white bandanna. His earlobes had been shaped to stretch halfway down his chest for some reason no one had ever asked about, weighted down by diamond-shaped gold earrings. Beyond his earrings, he wore loose orange pants with a black pattern, and a blue flowing sash, holding up a light-blue veil over his pants. In terms of further jewelry, he wore gold bracelets on both his arms paired with gold anklets on his legs, with two gold rings around his big toes, two to a foot, though beyond that he was barefoot. Leaning against his throne was a gold staff.

His throne was under an open-walled building, with a heavy roof and sides open, with silk awnings that could be pulled down at command. To one side were three elderly men, their heads slightly bowed as they waited to give their advice, or relay word to their people, although with this Kami it was mostly relaying orders. To his other side were an equal number of extremely attractive young women of Conis's age. One of them was currently fanning the Kami of sky Island Skypiea with a large fan as the others waited for their own chance to serve him.

At the moment, he was quiet, which was somewhat normal for him. Now he looked up, laughing loudly. "Hahahah, my word! So they suspected betrayal. These Blue Sea dwellers are not nearly as foolish as they first appear. Or perhaps… perhaps the young lady needs to be punished for not being able to keep the secret."

The man who was known as Kami to one and all - and even himself -scratched at his long drooping ear for a moment thoughtfully, then clapped his hands together. "HAHA yes, that is a good idea. After all, they left the majority of their group behind, and only those five with the most daring spirits are on their way here."

"Oh Kami-sama, do you mean to say that five of the Blue Sea have chosen to come here?" asked one of his so-called advisers.

"Indeed," Enel said to the court in answer to the older man's question. "They are a most straightforward group and have a longing for knowledge and mystery." Clapping his hands and leaning back in his throne popping open his mouth. "Banana."

One of the nearby ladies quickly peeled a banana and held it out to him. Enel bit into it, then chewed thoughtfully, before pointing at one of the older men. "You there, I want you to take a message to McKinley, and to that young lady, Conis was her name I think? I don't want just the five most arrogant and foolish. I want all of the Blue Sea dwellers to come to Upper Yard. After all, rules must be obeyed. The Blue Sea dwellers have set foot on our land, they cannot be allowed to leave."

"Still," he said leaning back and opening his mouth again for another bite before going on after chewing it. "Until the rest of this group arrives, I can enjoy myself watching these five. Hahahahaha!" Even as he laughed though, Enel was wondering something. _Why is it, why is it that a few of these Blue Sea dwellers are glowing in my Mantra more than the others? Such an odd reaction…_

 **OOOOOOO**

As the _Resolve_ sailed around Sky Island, they easily spotted the Milky Road, which connected Angel Island to Upper Yard. This was built like a far larger version of the roads that McKinley and his White Berets had attempted to use against Hina and the marines. Getting the ship up on it was a little tough given the size of the schooner in relation to this river, but they managed it, punting along with the aid of Luffy pushing from behind smacking aside a few sky sharks who attempted to try to eat this new creature in their midst.

"Pity that we don't have Sanji around," Luffy said, pulling herself up over the side, kicking another such away, turning to watch as its fellows devoured it instantly. "Those make good eating."

Makino chuckled at that, watching Robin taking notes on the fish, as well as a few other animals they had seen. "What's got you so fascinated, Robin? I thought your interests lay in history, not biology."

"True, but the adaptation we are seeing here is utterly fascinating," Robin said smiling faintly. "How many different species have evolved up here in order to live in conditions that are so oddly changed from what we know? It's very interesting," she paused, then smiled at Luffy, "and makes them quite tasty, yes."

Soon, the river took them to the island Nami and Makino had found. As they went, Luffy realized as he looked at the island that it looked far larger than Angel Island. About an hour later, that was made certain as they had been making their way around the island and had still not gotten back to the stream that had brought them here. Further, it was built up higher than Sky Island: there were no beaches here, only the stone, dirt and roots of the island rising up like a single story wall before the start of the jungle that Makino and Nami had reported.

About another hour's slow sailing brought the _Resolve_ to a stream that seemed to head deeper into the island. There was a manmade arch over it, marked with faces and skulls.

Luffy's eyes narrowed as he looked at it, tugging at his pigtail thoughtfully. He had taken the time to transform into his male form once more and was now dressed in his silk pants and silk shirt open halfway down his chest as this shirt had lost its buttons at some point, along with his straw hat on his head. "This doesn't look suspicious at all," he drawled shaking his head.

"Well, if we consider this holy land as a truly religious site, then we need to look at other such examples in history," Robin said cocking her head to one side thoughtfully. "The prospective believer is usually tested in some fashion. Tests of courage, tests of faith, tests of intellect and even luck are most popular both in historical fiction and fantasy novels."

"So with that in mind, do we leave the ship here and go exploring on foot, or keep following the stream," Luffy asked, looking around at his crew.

"Keep following the stream," Robin said instantly before anyone else could reply. "If we are correct in that regard, that this is designed to be a trap, the stream itself is part of it. However, going off the predetermined script might be even worse on us. The original test is probably designed to make it seem as if the supplicant has a chance. The rest will simply be off-limits and thus deadly. We should play their game until we know exactly what our opposition is like, less we bite off more than we can chew."

"That makes sense," Zoro grunted. "Don't suppose that archaeologist brain of yours would be up to telling us which test will come first?"

"Once more, if it's a religious site, then the spiritual matters far more than the physical. Ergo, I would assume that it would be a physical test of courage first. The types of tests vary in importance, with the first usually being the least important."

Chopper trembled a little, staring at the foreboding sign and the river leading into the island, having second thoughts about this whole venture now. "Um, are, are you sure we should even be doing this? I mean, sure, exploring is great and all, but I'm really getting the impression we'll be angering God if we keep going."

"Bah, God?" Zoro scoffed.

"You're not afraid of God's wrath Zoro?"

"No. After all, I've never once prayed to him, so what is god to me?" Zoro asked with a wry smirk as he looked at the little Zoan fruit user.

 _Zoro's so cool,_ Chopper though, his eyes gleaming.

"I'm going to go get more pistols," Makino said mock-brightly. "Does anyone else want one?"

"We're good," said Zoro and Luffy as one, before exchanging a smile.

The ship entered the river easily, the powerful current carrying it forward at a pretty decent pace and the river several times as wide as the Schooner and more than wide and deep enough for the ship. It didn't leave much water under the bottom, but Luffy didn't think that would be an issue. The Island Cloud under the water of the White-White Sea didn't seem to run to jagged edges.

And almost immediately, Robin's prediction was proven correct. From every side, there came the sound of whirring noise and then the traps were sprung. These took the of large flashing blades appeared everywhere, flashing towards the ship from on high from large hawsers, arrows of various sizes large stones flung through the air from catapults. But the steel blades swinging on long pendulums, some of the blades as large as a man were the most dangerous fit to rip and tear into any ship with the sheer momentum of their swings.

Luffy smashed the first two, while Makino shooting at the ropes holding the blades. Robin concentrated on catching the arrows aimed at the side of the _Resolve_ with her conjured hands. Chopper raced from one side of the ship to the other dealing with the rocks. Zoro, like Luffy, concentrated on the large blades.

After a few minutes though, Luffy stopped. "I think we should leave this to Zoro and Chopper," he said as he sat on the prow of the ship and looking back at them. At the same time, he absentmindedly reached out behind him to smash a large mace that had been coming towards the ship from the front. It shattered, crumbling at his punch.

"What!?" Zoro barked. His swords flashed to either side slicing two of the swinging buzz saws in two before turning to glare at his captain. "You're going to leave this all to me? Well me and the little guy anyway?"

"Think of it as training," Luffy said. He held a hand up in front of his face and for a second being covered by his Busoshoku for a second, before turning back to normal. "I don't really need more training to bring out Haki. But you need speed training and need to get used to being able to cut through steel more regularly. Chopper needs to work on overall speed, his ability to read the flow of a fight and his durability. Feel free to use that Guard Point of yours Chopper, but I want to see you switching between that and your normal body and back to your Heavy Point. The speed of that change is important too, and puts a strain on your body, right?"

Even as he began to obey Luffy's commands, using his Guard Point to block a stone that would have caved in the schooner's main deck, Chopper was able to answer his voice starting out as a grunt at first, but he got his breath back quickly.

"That's right," he said, nodding his head as he transformed back into his small form and raced to the other side to do the same thing again against a large ballista bolt. "But there might well be an upper limit to that. And remember, I can't use my Rumble balls more than once every six hours and not lose control of my transformations."

"Then this will be a great time to work on your basic skills," Luffy said.

"I don't know," Zoro said, before twisting around towards another giant mace there was coming in behind their ship. Swung by a rope hanging from huge tree trunk that had been set across the river it was fit to take the ship in the aft and crush it.

"Thirty-Six Pound Cannon!" he growled out his attack, his one sword blasting out a long-range attack as Zoro slashed it forward hard enough to create an air attack, sending it into the stone, which shattered followed by the tree behind it. He turned back, shaking Wado Ichimonji at Luffy threateningly. "I think this is just because you're feeling lazy after all that time in the sun."

Then his eyes narrowed as he glared at his captain. "Or because you think that if you foist this off on me you can argue later that it will count."

"Count?" Luffy asked with some amusement while Robin, Chopper, and Makino asked, looked on in confusion at the two monsters of the Straw Hat Crew.

"You know what I mean! You got at least to spar with that Marine Captain, the Rapa guy. And you got to smash that bungee cord of a pirate one. While that isn't much, it's more than I've gotten! I haven't had a good fight since back in the desert kingdom against Mr. 1! And no, taking on those moronic ex-pirates with their stupid suits don't count! And no, guarding the damn ship back in Mock Town doesn't count too. I get the next serious enemy damn it!"

"I'd argue the fight against the pirate ships and Hina's marines before the Knock Up Stream fired off counted as a fight, not to mention those White Beret guys," Luffy replied mildly. At the same time, both he and Zoro smashed an incoming attack, Luffy another buzz saw coming from up top and Zoro a large ballista from the same side Chopper had dealt with before. This sight caused the three watchers to sweatdrop slightly, as it really didn't look as if the two monsters had noticed at all, still looking at one another.

"And you better put down those pellets of yours!" Zoro said, now pointing an accusing finger at Luffy who was tossing several musket balls in the air from the same fist he'd just used to smash the buzz saw. "No making this harder than it already is."

"He's right," Chopper shouted, taking a brief moment out of his own task transform into his large form throwing up his arms. "Come on! We're not your playthings!"

Luffy sighed, letting the musket balls drop. "I suppose you're right, I can't torture you in the name of training just because I'm bored. But you're not the only one that hasn't had a good fight in more than a month Zoro, so why should I promise you to have the next one?"

"Because you've had the best ones going all the way back to when we entered the Grand Line! It's my turn. And no way in hell do those White Beret cannon fodder count as a good fight."

"But then I'll get even more bored, and no one wants that," Luffy said shaking his head.

"A bored Luffy is a dangerous one, something I should make a note of," Robin mused.

"Oh, are you volunteering than to cure his boredom in other ways?" Makino asked the other woman, her eyes narrowed as she looked at Robin.

Robin looked at the other woman sharply, but before she could decide how to answer, Chopper looked around and shouted, "Look, the attacks are done!"

Luffy and Zoro both also looked around, and Luffy sighed. "Alright Zoro, how about we do this: if we run into someone who's an unarmed fighter, he's mine. If the next skilled opponent we see uses a weapon, he's yours. Deal?"

Zoro spat on his hand and held it back. "Deal! No take-backs though." Doing the same, Luffy shook his friend's hand firmly.

Taking her chance, Makino smiled, grabbing Robin's arm. "In that case, since we're entering a jungle I don't think these bikinis Robin and I are wearing are appropriate any longer. We'll just be stepping down to change and be back in a bit."

With that, she literally dragged Robin below, entering the lady's room, where, true to what she had said they would do the two of them began to change clothing. Through it all Robin was tense, waiting for the questioning to start. She wasn't certain exactly what kind of questioning she'd be forced to endure, but she knew it was coming.

"So, what exactly are your intentions toward my Captain?" Makino asked as she finished pulling on a pair of jeans. It matched her blouse readily enough, though the blouse, a floral thing like Sanji's shirt, clashed horribly by the two pistol belts she wore low on her hips. "I know there's something going on between you so don't bother denying it. You've both been circumspect, surprisingly so in Luffy's case. But that day back in Mock Town that could only have been a date, and I know since then the two of you don't look at one another quite the same at times."

"Shouldn't that be the other way around? It's traditional to ask the man his intentions to the woman after all."

"That'd be true here only half the time," Makino said dryly. "And you're older than he is, and more experienced when it comes to relationships."

"I'm more experienced when it comes to sex, flirting, and using my wiles to get what I want," Robin said with a sigh, looking away as she felt oddly embarrassed to admit this. "That doesn't actually equate to being all that experienced with the emotional side of relationships. I have, as a matter of survival, not become attached to many people in my life on the seas. Indeed, I would say I've only been in one true relationship before this and it most decidedly did not last for very long."

"So it is emotional, this relationship between you and Luffy?" Makino said looking over at her. _Poor Nami, she seems to have waited too long. That's honestly sad, I thought they would be good for one another. But then again, I could say the same thing for Robin and Luffy too._

"Yes," Robin said surprising herself by how firm that came out. There were still a lot of problems to be worked out considering her past, but Robin found herself unwilling to deny herself when it came to her and Luffy's growing connection any longer. "Yes, I believe it is. Both of us, we, we enjoy one another's company, we find each other attractive. Indeed, I find both his forms attractive, although I haven't yet initiated anything with his female body. We like being around one another and go out of our way to be so. I'm uncertain what else more beyond that there is to a relationship. I… Luffy has become a friend, and more since I met him, and that is, is something I have never allowed myself to have before."

"I see," Makino replied, somewhat amused, and somewhat irritated. She'd had an entire speech ready, but when Robin talked to her so earnestly completely took the wind out of her sales. "Look, I'm not going to go into the whole speech," she said, adding mentally, _anymore,_ to that with a pout. "But I am still going to tell you this. He is my captain, just like he is yours right now. Whatever is going on between the two of you, don't let it get in the way of the crew's interactions as a group, and make certain before you let it go any further that, if things don't work out between you, it won't drive a wedge between you or mess up the crew dynamics."

The fact that, once it came out, the relationship would make a mess of at least some of the crew dynamics was a given in Makino's mind. Sanji would weep, wail and curse, but would eventually get over it. Chopper and Zoro wouldn't care. But Nami… Makino honestly had no idea how the orange-haired girl would react.

"Understood," Robin said with a nod, her own thoughts somewhat similar to Makino's. She too knew that Nami was interested in Luffy, although she didn't know why the girl hadn't acted on that yet. "But I don't think you have anything to worry about us breaking up or making things uncomfortable. I don't think we would have gone beyond light flirtations if we weren't serious. And neither of us are the type to be too effusive in public or anything of that nature. We'll keep our passions private.

"And are there passions? Was that your first date back on Mock Town?"

"It was, one that was grossly interrupted by the Hyena and his crew." With that, Robin told Makino about her and the captain's semi-date as she too changed, changing into shorts and a crop top before once more placing her cowgirl hat on her head.

The two ladies joined the three boys up top, to find that they had dropped anchor, something neither woman had felt for some reason, and worse staring ahead of them. "I'd recommend this is one of those choose your fate things," said Luffy, crossing his arms and pushing up his straw hat with one hand gesturing ahead of the ship.

There a large construct of stone broke out of the water. It was made to look like a giant face, which Robin and Luffy both recognized as something from the Buddhist school, (although neither knew the other had done the same thing,) fronted by four small tunnels separating the river, their interiors black and foreboding. Makino had a moment of fear as she thought about how the _Resolve_ would fit but realized the top of the mainmast would just clear the top of the tunnels. Each tunnel's mouth was made to look like a different face, and above them was a word written out. The four words were Iron, Swamp, Ball and String.

"So each of these probably leads to a different path forward," Luffy said, cocking his head thoughtfully. "The question is what."

"Iron is easy," Zoro said grunting the words. "Swords and combat. I vote for that one."

"That sounds accurate," Robin said with a nod. "Swamp is also self-explanatory. Different challenges, but both lethal. I imagine that a swamp up here would be some manner of giant bog, where if you are unable to find your way forward, you will simply sink forever down into the white cloud, before dropping down to the White Sea below where you no doubt will be devoured by the animals there. Although of course, you would have already suffocated in the swamps."

"That is so disturbing Robin!" Chopper shouted, hiding behind Makino and staring at Robin.

Makino too looked a little disturbed. "Why in the world do you have such a vivid imagination?"

"Whereas Ball… I imagine it would be something along the lines of perhaps entering a tunnel, and a giant ball appearing behind us, fit to crush us to death," Robin went on, staring at all with a pleasant smile on her face.

"You're enjoying this aren't you?" Luffy asked, cocking his head to her, watching as a faint smile appeared on her face. _Note to self, Robin has a very dark sense of humor at times. I wonder if it's nature or nurture?_

"String, I could see that going a few ways. Either you end up in a giant spider's web, unable to get out without tying yourself up in knots, or perhaps even meeting the spider in question. Or you suddenly have to cross some kind of gorge on a thin string. One wrong handhold and you fall to your doom to the Blue Sea many hundreds of miles below. The fall from up here would make you go splat against even the surface of a bubble let, alone the surface of the ocean."

"What is it with you and predicting our falling to our doom?" Zoro growled, joining Chopper in becoming disturbed at Robin's predictions.

"I imagine it's because we're so high up," Makino replied for Robin, "it does sort of lend itself to the fear of falling."

"Said the one woman who is actually afraid of heights," Luffy said dryly. "Still, which do we choose?"

"I vote Iron," Zoro reiterated, pointing at it with Sandai Kitetsu. "Iron has to do with swords!"

Makino paused thinking before she replied slowly. "I vote swamp. I'm afraid that the descriptions Robin gave sound far too realistic, but the swamp at least sounds like something we should be able to survive if we are careful."

"Ball!" Chopper shouted. "If it's just a simple ball coming after us, or even a series of them, we could deal with that easily. It'd be just like earlier when we defended the ship."

"Unless of course, we are the ball, and we are to fall into a chute of some kind, and then simply drop off of Sky Island altogether," Robin said 'helpfully'. This caused Chopper to shriek again in fear and attempt to hide behind Makino.

The older woman patted his head lightly, shivering in honest terror at the thought while Zoro began to twitch as they looked at the woman who simply smiled back at them. "She's doing this on purpose isn't she?"

"Probably," Luffy said in reply to Zoro's question, shaking his head. "One doesn't grow up entirely among pirates and criminals without becoming slightly deranged I suppose."

"I'm hurt Captain," Robin said with a chuckle, causing Luffy to twitch this time since he knew that she knew he didn't like being called that. "However, I choose swamp as well. It is the most straightforward type of danger."

"What about you?" Zoro asked Luffy.

Luffy closed his eyes, hopped up onto the prow, and twirled in place several dozen times, slowing down each time, and after the seventh twirl to come to a halt pointing ahead and into the tunnel marked String. "That way it is."

"That's it?" Zoro said incredulously. "That is how you choose our route going forward?"

Luffy shrugged. "It seemed as good a way as any. Besides, this might be the test of luck Robin mentioned earlier rather than a choice of the next type of ordeal we need to face. If so, making it seem as if it was based entirely on luck might be a good thing."

"And do you find yourself particularly lucky today?" Makino asked, looking at Luffy in simple horror at the very idea.

"Not really, but then again, if we're trying to see what the opposition is like around here, does it really matter what trial we face?" Ranma said, confidence ringing out with every word, which made the rest of his crew smile.

 **OOOOOOO**

The laughter of Kami-sama caused everyone to stare at him, as he slapped his knee in delight. "Ahahahah, so amusing. These Blue Sea dwellers are truly funny! I do hope they retain that spirit going forward. It would be most irritating to find it was all talk."

Enel's servants looked at him quizzically, but he waved them off still laughing. While a normal individual's Mantra could not carry sound over distance, Enel's Mantra, fueled by his godly power, could if he concentrated on one area at a time. As such he was laughing, having listened to the discussion on board the ship of the Blue Sea dwellers as they decided which route to take going forward.

It was most amusing, and he was waiting eagerly for their meeting with his priests. It could prove most enlightening to them on their position in this world: among the dirt dwellers beneath his feet. Just like everyone else.

 **OOOOOOO**

"String," Zoro mused, frowning. "That sounds well so long as Robin's prediction on what it might mean isn't accurate. I like the _Resolve_ damn it. I'd hate to abandon it."

"True that. Still, let's get a move on." With that, Luffy leaped off the prow, moving to grab one of the punters, as he shouted, "Chopper head back and pull up the anchor. Zoro with me. Makino, Robin, if you could take the tiller?"

Soon the anchor was raised, and Zoro and Luffy worked with the punts, steering them into the tunnel ahead of them marked 'String'.

Elsewhere on the island a man sat on a bird and smiled as his Mantra told the Blue Sea dwellers had decided to enter his territory rather than the other priests. He tapped the bird on the head, and they flew off, as he decided where to make his acquaintance with these fools.

As they entered the tunnel, Luffy suddenly frowned. "You know, I just had a thought. Maybe it's because Robin kept on going on about our falling to our dooms, but…"

"Oh I don't like that start at all," Makino groaned before steeling herself as she glared at Luffy. "Just spit it out!"

"Well, what if this was our test of luck rather than simply a choose your next round of poison kind of thing. What if instead of there being no right answer, there was only one right answer, and all the others drop through the island."

Robin could all too easily imagine that and by the looks on their faces, the others did too. Makino grabbed Luffy by the throat, shaking him mercilessly. "Why did you put that image into my head!?" she growled through gritted teeth. "If that happens, I am so going to curse you for the entirety of my afterlife!"

Luffy just shrugged his shoulders, not at all bothered by the fact his older sister figure was choking him, who just didn't have enough grip strength to cut off his airways. Then the ship came out of the tunnel at the other end and floated out into nothingness for a time, its forward momentum carrying it forward as everyone slowly realized that they had just lost touch with the water underneath her keel.

Makino's shriek of "Dammit Luffy, of all the times for you to be right!" was interrupted by everyone else shouting in fear as the ship started to descend, picking up speed as they went. Everyone lost their footing, with Robin and Chopper leaving the deck entirely floating into the air until Robin's came into play. Dozens of hands grabbed at them from the mast and deck, making certain they stayed put. Makino found herself in Luffy's Arms, held there by one arm as he grabbed at a rope, floating up into the air after Chopper and Robin. Zoro had been close enough to the prow to latch his arms around the railing and hung on like grim death as the ship continued to fall.

About twenty seconds later, they landed into the water again with a splash that covered the entire ship, from prow to stern. This transformed Luffy where she was still holding Makino, but she still held onto the older girl as the ship subsided. The massive 'whump-ker splash' sound soon gave way to the normal creak of the ship, heightened to a new level perhaps, but the _Resolve_ was still in one piece.

"Safe," Luffy muttered, shaking her head. Pushing herself off of the deck, Luffy looked around. "Anyone hurt?"

This was answered by a chorus of groans, but no one seemed hurt and Luffy let Makino go, staring around at the ship in particular up at the mast then at the tiller, which were the most vulnerable parts of the ship. "All in favor of finding whoever designed that thing and ripping them a new asshole say aye."

After everyone had shouted an affirmative to that, she moved to the side of the ship, staring out around her as they found those ships moving gently through a new cloud-based river several hundred feet in the air still thanks to the cloud. It began to remind Luffy of pictures of aqueducts he'd seen pictures of in his past life, just made of the local solid cloud rather than the stone it would obviously. But the rest of the view was just as amazing.

Makino moved to the side as well, then away, shuddering. "Right, we're still too high in the sky for me."

"We've been too high in the sky for a little over half a day Makino-san," Robin said, needling the woman to get back at her for her earlier questioning about her and Luffy's relationship. "And it only now begins to bother you?"

"Oh it bothered me at the time, but it's not so much being high, as being able to **see** that I am high in the air. I will just be standing here well away from the sides of the ship thank you so much," Makino said, moving to the mast and then towards the door leading into what had become the cafeteria and had previously been the captain's quarters. "I'll check for damages in the interior."

Zoro clambered up into the crow's nest, whistling appreciatively as he stared around him. "This is some damn fine view! But it's also weird. It's a jungle out there for sure, hell, I think Makino and the witch understated things. We're what, eight hundred feet up in the air maybe?"

"More like a thousand and fifty," Luffy replied expertly. As a master of the aerial style of Anything Goes, he could easily calculate that kind of thing.

"Lalalalala, I'm not listening," Makino shouted before she entered the ship and very pointedly closed the door behind her.

Ignoring Makino, Luffy hopped into the air, clambering up after her first mate, crouching next to him as she looked all around before nodding. "Yeah, that is some view."

The ship was slowly winding its way down along a long, wide gentle corkscrew, with a few offshoots here and there, but none of them seemed to go anywhere. Luffy wondered idly how that worked, the multiple levels of the ocean, was really throwing him off here, but it made for some fantastic sailing. The currents here were also quite strong to pull a schooner along as it did now, following the White River as quickly as the _Resolve_ could have with one of its masts.

Yet already, the ship was well into the jungle. What Zoro had noticed were the trees. They looked like regular jungle trees, the kind you'd find in any jungle. But they were monstrously huge, thick and tall, so tall that they made any tree Luffy had ever seen in this life or the last seem small in comparison. The White River they were following had only been above them for a brief time, and now the gentle corkscrew was bringing them down and further down into the trees. So all-encompassing was the jungle that the sky above them almost disappeared in the next few minutes.

Looking back, Luffy stared through the tree branches to try to make out what else could have occurred to them and reported that their fall was only the second-longest. "It looks as if String was about half the length it could have been. The Ball trial looks as if it was a really long fall straight down into the jungle, can't see anywhere it could have ended. The other two are longer moving out of sight to the port and then back the way we came."

She shook her head. "That looks as if that was the purpose of that tunnel, just to make us go to different sections of the island. Although how the heck this all works is beyond me, there are too many darn levels." With a sigh, she hopped back down to the deck and went after Makino, intent on getting some hot water.

Robin frowned in thought moving to the prow as she looked around them, her eyes bright with wonder although the rest of her face looked almost calm. Chopper joined her quickly, his childish delight being much more visible than her own.

"I don't know if I'll ever get used to this," Luffy said as he rejoined the others, continuing what he'd been saying a moment before. "I'm not used to thinking of streams being able to move so, so bereft of the ground around them I guess. And the land here is exactly the same thing too."

"Hmmm…" Robin hummed, staring at the scene in front of her, wondering what about it bothered her. It was only when the White River began to descend to where some of the tree roots could be seen below them that she began to have an inkling. She stared up at the giant trees all around them, and then down at the ground. She did that so many times that Chopper noticed, and asked her, "What's wrong? Er, I'm no expert on trees, but they seem pretty normal to me."

It was as if his words had broken Robin out of a trance, "Normal, of course, but normal for us, not for Sky Island!" with that she hopped up onto the railing and then created a rope of hands from one outstretched arm to grab at a branch, swinging her easily to the nearest tree branch as the ship continued to move behind her.

"Robin, what are you doing?" Luffy asked, surprise in his voice, but no worry. He knew the older woman could handle herself while that little display actually won a grin from Zoro and Chopper, who clapped his hooves together as he shouted that Robin was so cool.

Robin ignored them for a moment, kneeling down, and brushing her hands through the dirt beneath her underneath what looked like a bush that had begun to grow in a small crevice on a much larger tree branch. Pushing through the lawn to touch the dirt underneath, she worked it through her fingers, then looked up at the ship. "It's earth," she said, "dirt."

"Of course it's dirt, what else would it be? Zoro said with a scoff.

"We're on Sky Island," Robin said slowly, staring all around her while Luffy brought the ship to a stop by dropping the anchor. "We're on Sky Island," she said again, looking at them all willing them to understand her point.

Luffy blinked, then got it, staring around them in shock, "We're on Sky Island but this island isn't part of Sky Island!" he shouted Robin's words back to her, shaking his head. "It isn't made of clouds so…" the Straw Hat captain shook his head again much harder this time as a wild idea came to him. "No way!"

Robin began to chuckle as she moved back to the ship, smiling at her captain who seemed to be enthralled and awed as he saw the same theory she had. "I believe that is the only possible explanation," she said simply.

Zoro and Makino looked at the two of them, while Luffy chortled aloud. "This," he said gesturing around them. "This isn't natural up here in the sky, and I believe we all know where it could then have come from."

The first mate frowned in confusion, but Chopper gasped, hopping up and down. "Are you talking about that old legend, the one which Liar Norland told in the child's story before he was executed? About how the island must've been smashed up into the sky? Is that even possible?"

"I do not know if it is possible, but it certainly fits what we are seeing here," Robin said simply. "I am uncertain which segment, or even if it is whole, but this is a portion of Jaya, the portion that housed the City of Gold."

"The Knock Up Stream. Mont Blanc said that its position varied wildly," Luffy said, chortling at the sheer insanity of it all.

"So one time, it appeared underneath the island and just shattered it, bringing this portion up into the sky," Chopper finished, looking around him in all the lights. "But, but doesn't that mean that the city is around here too, is the city of gold!?"

"…I am so glad Nami isn't here right now," Luffy said with a laugh of his own. "I'd have to put her on a freaking leash to keep her from running off to try and find it."

The others all laughed at that bar Robin, who was looking around in delight. She started to think, trying to conjure up the image of the map of the island they had found from the wreckage, which had sparked their interest in Sky Island. But that map was with Nami, in one of her pouches, and she scowled, biting at her lip in a strange gesture of interest and irritation as she tried to work out from their current position where the city of the ancient warriors would be. Since she didn't have an idea where they were in the first place, that was next to impossible.

"Let's not go haring off what willy-nilly," Luffy said causing Robin to look up at him and then her face blanked as she realized how much of her inner thoughts had been visible there. But Luffy went on talking calmly. "Remember, you said it earlier. This could be enemy territory. So let's explore as much of this island as we can by ship, then by land."

Looking back at him, Robin could not argue.

After that, with Robin and Chopper on watch, Luffy and Zoro surveyed the ship for a time, making sure it hadn't taken much damage from its short fall and found very little damage on top. A few of the deck's wooden boards had loosened, but that was all. The sides of the ship had been damaged in two places though, when two cannons were bounced loose from their runnels, again. This time though the cannons themselves weren't damaged thankfully.

Underneath the waterline though, Zoro found several places where the connection between a few of the hull's boards had been loosened, the ship now was taking on trickles of water, forcing Makino, Luffy, and Zoro to work on that problem for a time. But that was the worst damage. The _Resolve_ was a tough little vessel.

"It's a good little ship," Luffy said tapping the side of the hull from the inside as he made his way out of the hold. With that, he went over the side and started to repair the damage done there, while Zoro went to work in the gun deck

As they continued on, the jungle slowly began to close in around them the trees growing into and away from one another, creating odd shapes here and there, with carved faces masks and other things visible randomly. It was an interesting effect, but the two workers ignored it, while Chopper and Robin talked quietly to one another about what it could mean. Makino was busy making up a meal for them all, after cleaning up inside a bit, since it was getting on to dinnertime.

Ahead of them, a case in point was a tree branch having grown over the river to seemingly merge into a second tree's branches. This created a small walkway that looked as if it could reasonably be used for a cart or perhaps three people walking side-by-side.

On it were carved numerous masks, and Chopper shivered as they seemed to glare down at the ship as it passed. _And gah, is that a skull I see up there!?_ It wasn't the last of those they saw either as they began to pass more of them as the ship continued on. Soon Robin had spotted them too, skulls stuck onto smaller branches to on the top of spears set into trees.

And then, for some reason, the ship began to slow down. No one noticed at first, but as he shifted to work on the other damaged gun port, Luffy frowned looking around him. _I thought something had touched my back just then, but I don't see anything._ Then, as he continued on, he noticed how much slower the ship was moving in comparison to the current below them. "What the heck?"

"What?" Zoro said from inside barely grunting as he moved the gun to the side. It looked all right, but they'd have Chopper get inside later to make sure that the interior of the barrel was still smooth enough to fire. Any kind of damage to the inside of the cannon barrel would cause the cannonball to misfire, which would be a very bad thing.

"We're slowing down, but the current isn't," Luffy said. He gestured back up to the top deck, in front of the gun port, telling Zoro, "Come on, I think we need to have all hands on deck something is going on here."

Luffy climbed up the side of the boat, frowning as he felt something touch his back again through his shirt, twisting his neck around to look, but he saw nothing. He wondered what that was, before deciding to ignore it for now.

The five of them joined together at the prow, staring down around them as the ship slowed further, actually coming to a stop as they watched, confused. "What the heck is going on?" Luffy muttered shaking his head. There seemed to be something shivering in the air for a second, but before Luffy could figure out what had stopped his ship in its tracks a new voice interrupted them.

"What is going on, is that you chose your fate," that voice from above them, causing all of them to look up. The _Resolve_ had reached yet another of those odd walk paths made of branches that had grown across the stream.

Sitting up there was a giant purple bird, with long red feathers around its neck, a nasty looking beak and beady yellow eyes. On top of the bird sat its rider. He was of medium height, with wings that looked a bit larger than most the crew had seen so far. He wore a jacket lined with fur and brown sleeves marked by a crisscross pattern of dark brown and light tan along with orange pants, fur-lined gloves and boots, and a purple scarf around his neck. On his head, he wore what Luffy recognized as an aviator hat from way back in his old life complete with goggles and had a really nicely cared for pointed mustache.

He looked down at them, a smile of somehow dark joy on his face, as he took them in. "You chose your fate," he said again, "and now find yourselves stuck here, in the Ordeal of String."

"String?" Luffy said, frowning he didn't see any but, perhaps thin enough string could be invisible. And enough of them, so long as they are somewhat strong, could bring the _Resolve_ to a standstill. He strained his ears and, now knowing what to look out for, was able to hear something over the sound of the forest, a sort of tinkling, twanging kind of noise as the _Resolve_ strained against its new bonds.

"Indeed. I am Shura and this is my ordeal, created by me in homage to Kami-sama. The survivability of those who enter it is but three percent. Your fate was decided the moment you entered Upper Yard. If you had tried to flee, perhaps you could have gotten away, but coming here as you have, you have broken a taboo set by Kami-sama, and for that you..."

He was interrupted at that point by a shout from Zoro "Yes!" With that, the swordsman strode forward, sending a smirk over his shoulder. "You promised Captain, and he got a weapon. He's mine!"

Luffy looked up again and noticed that yes, Shura did have a weapon, a long iron lance like that of the Knight of the Sky they had met earlier that day down on the White Sea after their run-in with the mask-wearing attacker. "Dammit fine! But I get the next one."

"You not going to argue?" Zoro asked looking at him.

Luffy shrugged, "We promised. He's yours. Unless of course, it looks like you're going down. In that case, I'll step in."

"Hah!" With a wicked grin, Zoro started to pull out his swords, "Like I'll let that happen. I have my pride after all."

"Has anyone told you two you're weird lately?" Makino asked shaking her head. Even so, she had moved to lean back against the foremost mast, staring at the man and Zoro, wondering how this was going to play out.

"There's no point in arguing between yourselves anyway," the man above them said, smirking as he pulled his aviator goggles down over his eyes and couched his lance. "I intend to kill you all right here anyway."

With that, the bird launched itself forward, down towards the ship, a fireball appearing and flashing down towards them before he banked upwards, zooming between the masts before aiming toward Robin where she stood by the tiller. Zoro dissipated the fireball with a blast of air from one of his swords, but the man got past him, his lance out and thrusting towards Robin.

Having been standing beside his book buddy, Chopper instantly grew and smashed the lance to one side with a fist. But the man moved with it almost as if he'd been predicting that, coming up and off of the back of his bird and launching himself into a kick that took Chopper in the chest, flinging him back down onto the main deck from the stern.

He then twisted around, thrusting out towards Robin once more only for his eyes to widen and then leap into the air where his bird flew under him firing another fireball down at Robin. Then Luffy was there, a Rankyaku dissipating this second fireball easily.

"Oy," Luffy growled, crouching on the railing separating the main deck from the raised stern deck as he glared up at the flying man. "Your opponent's Zoro, not the rest of my crew or my ship! Keep your fire to yourself asshole, or you won't live to regret it."

The man ignored what he thought of as false bravado from the straw-hat wearing man, scowling as he stared down and Robin who it had been in the process of crossing her arms. "That was almost dangerous. What an odd power you possess."

Luffy's eyes narrowed at that, but before he could say anything, Zoro voiced his own anger at the man's trying to involve the others.

"Luffy's right! What part about you're fighting me didn't you understand, asshole!" Zoro shouted, leaping into the air after the man bouncing twice, as he pulled out Wado Ichimonji and locked it into his mouth, bringing the two swords twisting into, "Tatsumaki!" that the man blocked if barely, grimacing as he moved away from Zoro then back in, exchanging blows with the Santoryu user.

But he did it so swiftly that again Luffy thought for a moment that he had anticipated Zoro's attack. "Zoro, be on your guard. He seems to have some Kenbunshoku Haki ability."

The two combatants started to exchange blows then, with Zoro using Geppo to bounce around. Shura, in turn, used his bird, the bird's claws and beak matching Zoro's blades for now along with Shura's lance. Twice the man lashed out with fireballs, but Zoro dodged. Many times Shura and his bird acted as one, dodging an attack by the skin of his teeth and then attacking with precision, but Zoro would block his attacks. Yet whereas Zoro's defense relied on speed, Shura's relied on just not being where Zoro was attacking.

"That's the sensing type of Haki, right?" Chopper asked, staring up at the battle going on above the ship. "The one that lets you somehow predict your enemy's attacks?"

"Right. It's the tougher type to learn in my opinion, although that's probably just me," Luffy said with a shrug. "Still, it's easy enough to overcome, if your own basic abilities are high enough. Just watch."

True to his captain's prediction, Zoro soon changed his style. His movements shifted subtly, becoming almost more primal, less organized. He came out of his Tatsumaki into his basic Oni Giri slash only to break off halfway through his normal charge and lashed out with a cut from Wado, which Shura barely dodged, then thrust out hard with his cursed blade, nearly spearing Shura's bird before he forced it to bank to the side. Then Zoro bounced up and over the man in a show of Geppo skill that caused Luffy to nod appreciatively, though the man anticipated it, backing away.

He now circled the ship, watching thoughtfully as Zoro kept bouncing in the air, his swords at the ready as he twisted around to match Shura's moves. "That's an interesting ability you Blue Sea dwellers have there. But I'm afraid it will not prevail you against the ordeal of string." Shura's fingers twitched then and there was a slight shiver in the air.

Luffy frowned, moving as if to un-cross his arms from where he had been crouching only to find himself unable to come out of his crouch. He looked down at his body, now feeling suddenly, within that split-second several thousand pieces of string tying him down. "What the heck!?" _Where in the world did they come from? Some kind of trap? No, I would have felt it, unless it was a subtle thing and he just pulled them taunt just now?_

"As I said, none of you are going to survive the ordeal of string," Shura said, zooming forward, his lance heating up like a hot poker as he thrust for Zoro's chest. The swordsman, like the rest of the crew, had become trapped in who knew how many invisible pieces of string, but he wasn't quite as trapped as the others were, being in midair at the time. "This is cloud string, thin, but incredibly strong. Try moving and it will simply slice you into pieces. Still, do not worry, I won't let you die in such a painful manner. I will put you all out of your misery now."

Zoro grunted with effort and shouted in anger as he twisted his body around, blocking Shura's lands, but he couldn't block the next blow as Shura came up over his lance, thrusting out with his other hand. "This is the reality of sky combat," he intoned, as his hand pressed into Zoro's chest right above where the swords had been crossed to block the lance blow. "Impact Dial."

There was a loud booming sound, like the sound of an undercharged cannon going off and Zoro jerked backward, groaning in pain but still held in place by the string that had captured him and all the others. Shura moved off, circling the ship again, smirking down at them. "Your ability to bounce in the air, to send air attacks from your legs and weapons out like that, the dark-skinned woman's odd ability to summon hands out of nowhere, they are magnificent. But only for Blue Sea dwellers. Up here in Skypiea, combat has evolved to a degree far higher than anything that could be found down on the Blue Sea."

He circled around the ship, laughing as his bird launched another fireball down at the ship. "Realize your helplessness and despair."

Robin grunted, unable to move her arms, and Makino found herself in a similar position as did Chopper as the fireball continued towards them. All of them began to look worried, but Luffy didn't. He twisted his head, fighting against the strings as even more of them began to wound around him somehow, coming from somewhere nearby, he couldn't figure out where. But honestly, that didn't matter much. "You all right to continue Zoro?"

"Who do you think you're talking to?" the voice said from above, causing Shura to flip around in midair to look at Zoro thoughtfully. The first mate grimaced, spitting out to one side as he glared at Shura, shaking his head. "As for you, bird-guy, I think I should apologize."

With that Zoro tensed his entire body almost to the point of Tekkai and then moved, snapping the string around him with a grimace of concentration and pain – after all Tekkai shouldn't be used while moving -, while Shura looked on in surprise. The next second a barely formed air pressure attack lashed out from his swords, smashing into the fireball and dissipating it.

"Yeah, your words and acting was so over the top, we weren't taking you seriously. But you're actually someone of substance," Luffy said, slowly pushing his arms out to either side despite the strings covering his body, trusting in his body's normal durability to let him move without the string cutting into him. He was right to do so and soon proceeded to twist his hands in such a way, as to grab at the string around his arms, which had bundled up there thanks to his movements.

Shura was shocked to see that, but his shock rose further as the string wasn't carving Luffy into pieces as he moved. But then he gaped as his Mantra told him what Luffy was about to do. "Wait, what, how…"

As the priest watched Luffy roared and pulled his arms forward, putting all his strength into it. The strings tied around his arms didn't break like those around his chest and upper arms, not having been that tight around him, but still constricting his movements. The reason they had been, was because those strings had been tied to nearby tree branches, tying him down like a ship at dock, just like the _Resolve_ was. But now, Luffy pulled the strings and ripped those branches, those giant tree branches, larger than most masts, right off their parent trees lashing them forward into further branches to either side of them causing them in turn to shatter.

Just like that, the _Resolve_ was suddenly free, moving forward again under the command of the current below them like a horse finally loosed from its paddock. Just for a second, Luffy felt something, a shiver or something through the deck but it was gone so fast he thought it must have been his imagination. Shaking that off, Luffy smirked up at Shura. "Your string trick's neat and very sneaky," he said simply "but not exactly unbeatable."

"That's right," Zoro said, flexing his hands before tying his bandanna in place and once more pulling his swords back out. "No trick like that is unbeatable, so long as you're strong enough."

Flying above the carnage below as he watched his carefully prepared trap of string be shattered like this, Shura ground his teeth angrily. "Arrogance! Your arrogance will be your undoing this day Blue Sea dwellers!" he shouted, as his lance ignited and he charged down towards Zoro. "But if you wish to be the first, then be my guest!"

 **OOOOOOO**

While the five intrepid explorers had sailed off, McKinley and Hina continued to argue on the beach. Up in Pagaya and Conis's house, Sanji and Nami stood outside on the balcony, with the orange-haired girl smacking the balcony railing angrily as she took in the bit of White-White Sea where the _Resolve_ had been sitting at anchor. "I can't believe this. I can't believe he just left like that."

"Do not worry Nami-swan, you still have me after all and the shitty captain will return. He'd better, since he took both Makino-swan and Robin-chwan with him," Sanji practically snarled. In actuality, the cook took his being left behind to, quite honestly, straight up act as a bodyguard for Nami as a distinct compliment. As the cook, Sanji knew that they didn't actually need all that much in the way of food. More fruit was always helpful, but not necessary. That was just make-work. No, Sanji knew he was there to guard Nami. "Come in and eat something, my dear. Beyond that and waiting for Pagaya to finish work on the Jet Dial we really don't have anything else we need to be doing right now."

"Grr," Nami muttered, although inside she was wondering why she was so angry about this even as she followed Sanji back inside. It had been her idea to be left behind with Sanji and the marines, but Nami honestly hadn't expected nearly the entire crew to agree with Luffy on exploration being more important than self-preservation. And the fact Robin had gone with them was also bothering her in some fashion she refused to think about too much.

In about twenty minutes or so, Sanji had gotten used to the various cooking Dials, the food on hand, then whipped up a feast for the two ladies with enough left over to give Pagaya enough food for later when he finished work on the Jet Dial. Both girls heaped praises on him as they continued their conversation from earlier, which was about Conis acting as a go-between for the crew and the other locals in purchasing Dials and furniture. Sanji interjected a few comments on the Dials and the food, but otherwise waited on them hand and foot, happy to do it.

Eventually, the conversation slowed down as Conis and Nami had agreed on the various prices the pirates were willing to pay and how, and Conis's eyes flicked from Nami to Sanji as the cook bowed over her, pouring her a glass of wine.

From the blush on the girl's face, Sanji's over-the-top flirting was getting somewhere for certain and Nami found herself actually happy for the guy. He wasn't her type, way too over-the-top with it all of his chivalry and stuff, but that didn't mean that she didn't want to see them happy. _I just hope he remembers not to let it get too far. We're not staying here after all._

"Ano, are, are you truly criminals down on the Blue Sea?" Conis asked. "It's just, you've all been so nice and you just don't seem to be the types to be law-breakers."

"We're a kind of pirates I guess, although we haven't really done much real pirating, stealing from other people, laying waste to whatever in our path and suchlike," Nami replied with a wave of her hand. "We've mostly fought other pirates, which isn't exactly piratical to most people. We're more a crew of dreamers than anything else. Sanji-kun, what was that term Luffy used the other day?"

"Buccaneers, I believe Nami-swan. Pirates who simply are chasing dreams irrespective of laws and common sense." Sanji breathed in from his cigarette, smiling at Conis, "That's us. We all have dreams that matter far more than our lives and we're all willing to push forward with them regardless of opposition."

"I, I see," Conis replied, looking a little awed at Sanji's fervor.

The conversation was interrupted at that point by Pagaya coming out of his shop, which was set underneath and to the side of the house down another small stairway cut into the cloud of Sky Island. "AH, I'm sorry, but I have finished repairing the Jet Waver." The man's extremely bushy brows furrowed as he looked at Nami. "I have to warn you, but this, this Jet Dial will be a handful, even above a normal Waver. I wish to warn you before you try to use it. I'm sorry."

Moments later, Pagaya's jaw had dropped while the three of them watched Nami zipped around on the ocean in front of them on the jet Waver, her laughter reaching them over the sound of her passage. It was even faster than Pagaya's Waver and even harder to use. But to her, it was simply good old-fashioned fun, and her grin was so wide it resembled that of a pumpkin as she pulled into the shore next to Pagaya, hopping off and giving him a hug. "It's wonderful! It's just amazing, thank you so much. How much do we owe you for it?"

"No, no, I'm sorry, but I won't take payment for this. It belongs to you after all and working on it was a fascinating project," the man said, looking a little uneasy at the hug from the woman. "I am simply glad that you enjoyed it and can use it so readily. I have never heard of anyone being able to figure out how to use Wavers this quickly, let alone one of the near-extinct jet Wavers."

"Well thank you for the work anyway!" Nami then sighed and looked out to the ocean, shaking her head, "I suppose then, that we need to wait for our crew to come back."

"Could you tell me some of your adventures while we wait?" Conis asked, to which both pirates nodded, and moved over to the small pagoda and the lounge chairs there with the two locals.

Nearby, Hina scowled as she stared at McKinley, who had just again rebuffed her attempts to demand a fair trade between them, her prisoners for a ship. The two of them had been talking for more than an hour now since she had called him out from his hiding place, but her attempts to explain the differences between marines and pirates and why his actions had been unnecessary towards her crew had fallen on deaf ears.

At this point, she was starting to lose hope frankly, but she needed to get her troops away from the pirates, even Nami and Sanji. A case in point of this was going on nearby, while Nami had been trying out the Jet waver. A number of her troops had been shouting and cheering the young navigator on and were even now crowding around the pagoda to both flirt with the two girls and listen to the pirates talk about their adventures.

She was thankful that the rest of them were no longer around and the reason was simple: erosion of purpose. Marines could not become friendly with pirates. They had to see pirates as a whole same as unremitting animals to do their job. The instant a marine realized that pirates were simply people, and there could be good and bad pirates, was the moment that everything got all too complicated to deal with. Hina had long understood that and deeply regretted it, even more so now after interacting with Luffy.

Because Luffy and his crew were all too human, all too relatable. Luffy, in particular, brought that reaction out in her, but Hina was determined to do her duty, and that meant keeping the fact they were pirates uppermost in her mind and the minds of her marines. When next they stood to in order to blast a pirate with buckshot, she didn't need her troops to be thinking about the lives of the pirates they were about to take.

As McKinley once more attempted to blame her and her crew for fighting back, Hina lost her temper.

"Now you will listen! **You** started that fight, trying to pin us down with your laws! I am a marine I recognize the tactic and I don't care why you attempted it, but everything that happened is your fault, my dead, **your** dead are on your hands!" she roared, pointing towards the four dead locals laid out to one side of the prisoners along with two of her own. Each had their shirt off covering their faces, which was the best they could do for them.

As McKinley ground his teeth "But I am still willing to believe this was an accident, caused by gross stupidity on your part. You need to realize that we are both the same, it is just that your jurisdiction only runs here, while my jurisdiction runs everywhere in the world. The world is a vast, vast place McKinley, far larger than your area."

McKinley looked at her, then looked away, something like guilt and fear crossing his face for a moment as he whispered his response. "You have no jurisdiction in Skypiea you are simply an outsider here. And as for the rest of what you said, we have a saying here. 'The world is vast, but still, there is only one Kami-sama'."

Hina frowned at him, trying to understand the emotions she was seeing there, but she didn't get a chance to question him about them. She turned in the same direction he did as he shouted, "Lord Arthur, what are you doing here?" She looked and saw an elderly man dressed like the rest of the locals, coming towards them down the stairwell leading up to the town.

As the man came close, he smiled at them all, bowing his head slightly, "Kami-sama sent me to discuss things with these Blue Sea dwellers. We have become aware of certain unusual facts about them. You may stand down Captain." As McKinley saluted and stepped back the man turned to Hina. "You would be the leader of the uniformed portion of the Blue Sea dwellers?" he asked the woman in front of McKinley.

"I am, captain Hina, of the Marines," she replied.

"Marines," he mused, that is what kami-sama heard yes. You must excuse Captain McKinley. It has been many centuries since the White Berets dealt with a band of like-minded individuals from the Blue Sea. Most of the people we see from the Blue Sea are pirates. And I understand that to compound things, you arrived with pirates, and not your own ship?"

Hina grimaced. She'd been afraid it was something like that. McKinley hadn't seemed to understand what marines were at all, let alone why they were different from pirates. Indeed, it was only her continued mention of his wounded that they had captured that kept him talking to her at all. "We came up via the Knock Up Stream, but my crew and I were not prepared for it. We were in point of fact fighting the pirates that we arrived with."

The man blinked in some surprise. "And yet you are not fighting them now?" he asked gently.

"Our ship was heavily damaged by the Knock Up Stream, its keel was broken, unable to be repaired. If not for the pirates willing to extend an armistice to us, all of my people would have drowned down in the White Sea."

Once more the older man blinked, slowly taking this in. "Very unusual for pirates then, I would assume. And, that is the group that has gone off with the ship you all arrived in?"

"Exactly yes," Hina said, making no motion to bring attention to Sanji or Nami, hidden as they were at present behind the bodies of several of her marines who were also listening to their tales. Their different clothing to her Marines would have been obvious, but she saw no reason to bring that to this man's attention. Further talk about the difference between Marines and pirates and the fact that their two crews were in a long-term cease-fire would only complicate matters.

"And true to his orders when it comes to Blue Sea dwellers Captain McKinley tried to force a fight upon you, in order to capture you and make sure that you could make no more trouble here believing all of you were murderous pirates, regardless of what you might have told him before the fight."

"I told Captain McKinley I was willing to see it all as a misunderstanding despite my own dead," Hina said, her voice hardening.

The man nodded and sighed. "I cannot do anything for the pirate crew that left, their future is in Kami-sama's hands. But you and yours need not be painted with the same brush any longer. In recompense for your dead, we will give you a ship, so long as we have your assurance that you will take that ship and leave. While we respect the Marines and the ideals you supposedly fight for, you have no jurisdiction here, and that will never change."

Another Marine Captain might've argued. Smoker surely would have if he'd even bothered talking to the locals at all, believing that the jurisdiction of the Marines took precedence over everything. But Hina was far more diplomatic than he was and was well aware of precisely how weak her position was here. "Agreed. If you can give us a ship, my men and I will leave as quickly as possible. We will have to procure supplies of course but I believe we have money for that, so long as beli notes can be used to exchange for local Extol.

"No, they cannot be, but do not worry, we will also furnish you with supplies," the man said waving that off. "As I said, getting you out of here at speed is the thing."

Hina breathed a sigh of relief nodding her head. "Hina thanks you," she said simply. "Hina thankful."

Blinking at the woman's odd verbal tick, the man nodded, gesturing to McKinley to come close for a moment, whispering in his ear, then sending him off. "McKinley will prepare the ship and gather the supplies. We ask that you as you move through the town, do so in an organized and quick fashion. Again, the locals do not have any good memories of Blue Sea dwellers. Even if they paid to enter, they always cause trouble eventually as the pirates who went off will no doubt do."

"Hina understands and finds your requests more than reasonable. Hina understanding" she said effusively, glad that she would soon have a ship of her own under her feet once more. Even if it was one of the odd ones around here with their Wavers rather than wind-powered, it would still be a ship and would allow Hina to become independent of the pirates.

The man nodded at that, then turned, gathering Conis to him with a gesture. "Conis, could I speak to you for a moment?"

The young girl heard him and turned in the older man's direction, paling slightly. But as the man gestured she stood up and, after thanking Nami and Sanji for their stories, moved through the marines towards the man. They moved off away from everyone and Nami frowned as she noticed something odd in Conis's body language. But she couldn't quite put a finger on it, while Pagaya asked a question about navigation down on the Grand Line, and if it was different, neatly grabbing her attention.

After a few moments listening to what Kami-sama required of her, Conis trembled, staring in shock and a bit of disgust as the elder stood in front of her, smiling faintly at her. As he did, his eyes were both condemning and kind. So Kami-sama requires you to lead this group of Blue Sea dwellers, and then tell them how to leave, via the White Sea. The Super Speedy Shrimp will do the rest.

"I am to, to then direct them to the sacrifice, as we attempted to do with the others?" Conis asked. That attempt had nearly broken her heart, and she had honestly been grateful to know that Luffy would completely disregard her directions to leave, which would have sent him in the completely wrong direction. But this, this might even be worse.

"Indeed. This group does not seem to understand what happened to that group, and, that group undergoing an ordeal of their own. Well done," the man said, smiling as he knew that the woman was not going to take that well. She didn't, and flinched, looking away guiltily. "You do what you must, as we all do to serve Kami-sama's will." _And survive,_ he left unsaid, though those words still had an impact.

She flinched, visibly trying to stop herself from looking up into the sky, from where Kami's judgment could occur at any moment. "I, I will do my duty again," she said nodding her head.

"Good," the man said sighing faintly well. "And once this is all over, you and your father may go back to your lives again." With that, he released her to go back to the Blue Sea dwellers turning to make his way back up the stairs.

Conis rejoined them, as Hina was discussing with Sanji and Nami what they would do. "The locals want the two of you with us, and after they explained things to me, I can see their point. They want all of us out, and given how independent Sky Island is, I don't have a leg to stand on trying to convince them to let the two of you stay behind alone."

"What about our crew? What will happen to them?" Nami asked while Sanji moaned about being worried about Robin and Makino.

"The old man, his name was Arthur, said that their fate is in god's hands, whatever that means. Hina irreligious," Hina said with a shrug. "But she supposes, that he simply means that it will be up to chance if they are able to get away from the Holy Land without angering the locals. If they do, however, they, and us, are free and clear and will be free to go on our merry way."

Nami scowled angrily. "Are you saying, that we'll be your prisoners?"

"Hina incredulous. Are you prisoners now?" She gestured at the jet Waver that Sanji was propping up. You will be free to go with that, as soon as we are away from Sky Island. That is, again, the important factor right now: that we leave. I don't like how they are so demanding on that point while being so accommodating in other ways but I can understand it. The people may be friendly, the government isn't. That's not exactly unusual, especially when you consider that most of the Blue Sea dwellers they deal with are pirates, and far more normal pirates than your lot."

Nami scowled but nodded. "Fine, let's go."

With that, the two pirates joined the Marines, moving to the front of the column almost automatically as it formed up, leaving the prisoners behind to be sorted out by McKinley, along with Hina, and Fullbody, who nodded brusquely to Nami before almost glaring at Sanji, who smirked back, taking a long drag of his cigarette as he did so.

The reason for the man's ire was readily apparent as Hina turned to the cook, also smoking a cigarette for the third time that day "Hina wants to thank you for the loan of several of your cigarettes, Cook-san. Hina addicted."

"Not a problem at all. For someone so divinely gorgeous as you, a packet of cigarettes was a small price to pay to simply being in your presence."

In response to the pirate cook's over the top flirting Hina giggled, causing many of the Marines to think very murderous thoughts about Sanji, while Nami rolled her eyes and began to engage Conis in further talks about Wavers and Dials.

The group moved through the town, which was comprised almost like a mountain town, with lots of stores and houses built up out of the Seastone-laden cloud, with others build of the same material at the top of small or long stairways. There was some kind of quarry in the distance to one side of the large stairwell leading up to the rest of the town, excavating bits of the stone for use.

There were people around, but after a glance at Conis and McKinley, they moved off, not interacting with the marines at all. Hucksters even fell quiet, not trying to ply the marines with their wares. Halfway to the peer, Nami started to notice this and not only was everyone avoiding them like the plague, but Conis had started to shake again _. There is something very wrong going on here_ , she thought, shaking her head.

She began to ply Conis with more questions about the town, specifics rather than generalities or stuff about fashion. In many ways it sounded idyllic, but whenever the question got around to god, and what his laws really were, Conis clamped up.

It was bizarre to Nami, and she finally stopped talking to the girl, letting Sanji begin his flirting without her interfering falling back to walk beside Hina. The older woman looked at her, one pink eyebrow rising. "You have something to say?"

"Have you noticed how everyone's looking at us?"

"Somewhat yes. I thought it was just the fact that we were outsiders, Blue Sea dwellers as they put it, and Blue Sea dwellers always bring trouble. But by your tone, you think it is something else?"

"I think it's something to do with this holy land and God," Nami replied, her eyes narrowed as she looked at the back of Conis' head. "And Conis seems to be shaking more and more as we go along."

"An ambush, do you think? With her being forced to lead us into it?"

"No, that doesn't seem to be it. I doubt that idiot McKinley or his troops would try you again after all given the beat down you and Zoro apparently gave them. No, this is something else. I just wanted to warn you to be ready for anything."

Hina barely nodded, before Nami moved ahead of her again, moving on to Conis' other side. As they went, Sanji dominated the discussion, asking questions about the various Wavers as they reached the wharf. Conis pointed out the Little Crow, which was the only Waver she could drive, before motioning them on to the largest Waver on the wharf, a large, bull-headed Waver.

But as she was talking, Nami had continued to watch her and as they reached the Waver, the old man had apparently given over to the Marines, she spoke up. "You're shaking Conis." The other young woman twitched, looking wide-eyed at her before looking away. She tried to open her mouth to say something, but Nami went on frowning. "What are you afraid of? And… why are you looking so guilty right now?"

"Nami-swan!" Sanji said, frowning at the orange-haired girl for the first time she could remember. "What are you talking about?"

"Conis?" Nami asked. "Something stinks around here, and I think you know it too. So what are you feeling guilty about? Trust me I'm an expert on feeling guilty, I know all the signs, and you've got them in abundance." She smiled, putting a hand on the other girl's shoulder, "But let me tell you, coming clean helps a lot with that kind of thing, and we're friends, we're not going to turn on you for whatever is happening here."

At Nami's supportive but worried face, and Sanji's concerned one, Conis began to break down. "I, I cannot, I can't do this!" she wailed, shaking her head. "Whatever you call yourselves, you two, your crew and even the marines, none of you have done anything to, to be faced with what might happen to you. I'm sorry, I'm so sorry!"

Hina sighed, exchanging a look with Nami, while Sanji started to get angry, but at what was unclear just yet. At the same time around them, the Skypieans working the peer were all staring at Conis in horror. "And what can't you do Conis? Hina curious."

"A, all Blue Sea dwellers who break the law are, are to be lead to Upper Yard. We cannot argue against it, or even warn you, if, if we do, we are put to death. That is Kami-sama's will, and…"

At that point, the shrieks of sheer terror from the surrounding Skypieans gave the rest of the story to Hina and the others. " **No**! Conis has called down Kami-sama's wrath!"

"Flee, run away!"

"Hopefully Kami-sama's wrath will only strike her down, the foolish girl!"

Even McKinley ran, gritting his teeth and shaking his head. "Damn it, all she had to do was just deliver them to Upper Yard. Now, now her compassion will lead to her death. But of all the Skypieans he alone stopped running shortly, hiding nearby to watch and listen to what occurred next. Someone had to witness it after all. Someone had to see Conis die and remember it.

"So God punishes anyone who comes here from the outside world?" Nami said slowly, while Hina looked around them, scowling and nearly biting through her cigarette as she watched the screaming, fleeing Skypieans. At the same time, Sanji knelt in front of the crying Conis grabbing her arms as Nami went on. "And God also kills anyone who warns someone that punishment is coming?"

Conis could only nod, sobbing into her hands.

Then Sanji shook her hard, causing the girls to look up in shock to see his angry expression, which, to her astonishment, was not directed at her. No, when he spoke, he spoke the same thing Nami did, the other girl roaring the words into her ear. "So why did you warn us?!"

The girl gaped at them, but Sanji continued to shake her, gentler now, but still earnestly. "My crewmates and I are all pirates, even Nami-chwan and Chopper are able to look after themselves, we could have muddled through. But if they come after you then…"

Nearby McKinley looked at this with wide eyes as Hina shook her head at the odd reaction from a bunch of pirates, smiling as she thought about this odd bunch of pirates.

"WH… why? How can Blue Sea dwellers be so concerned over someone not of their crew? Have they no fear for their own lives? Or is this just an act?" the White beret captain muttered. "But wait, perhaps they are simply ignorant. When Kami-sama's wrath shows itself, then we will see."

Suddenly the sky above them began to glow, a loud thrumming noise building in the background and slowly making itself heard by those below. All eyes turned in that direction, as the watching McKinley stared at the Blue Sea dwellers while he took shelter with a few of his men. "It's too late for her, she profaned the will of Kami-sama. But now, prove yourselves as perfidious as every other Blue Sea dweller. Run, leave her to her death as we have seen every other time from Blue Sea dwellers when faced with Kami-sama's wrath."

 _Do so, just like we would_ he thought to himself, as around him every other Skypiean continued to race away from the sight of Kami-sama's wrath. _Do so, and prove again that you, just like we, are helpless in the face of Kami-sama's power._

Hina and Sanji both stared up at it, while Nami gaped in terror, her eyes wide and desperate. "That's the same kind of attack Makino and I saw!"

"No shitty act of God is going to hurt a lady while I'm around," Sanji shouted, leaping into the air.

Conis gasped, reaching out an ineffective hand. "No, Sanji-san, don't!"

Ignoring her, Sanji bounced up higher and higher toward the glowing area of the sky faster than even Hina, no novice at Geppo, could have done, showing a speed that could well have challenged that of his captain. Then he seemed to falter for a brief second as he concentrated, before cursing and flipping himself around, kicking up into the light as it finished coalescing. "Iron Leg, Anti-Manner Kick Course!" he shouted, and Hina gaped as she watched his legs, from his knees down, turn black for a few seconds.

It wasn't enough to protect him though as the attack hit him. Sanji gritted his teeth, biting through his cigarette against the scream of pain as the lightning, for it had turned out to be lightning rather than light, played across his body electrocuting him inside and out. But he had accomplished his goal. The lightning bolt should have been the size of several of the larger Wavers around them, but Sanji had disrupted it with his launch into the air. That was no help for Sanji however, who thankfully now fell unconscious collapsing back down towards the ground smoking and sizzling, his eyes rolled up in his face.

"Sanji-kun!" Hina was in motion before the lightning had even started to dissipate, but even so, Nami beat her to it, catching Sanji before he could smash into the pier below them, gently setting him down. "Oh, Sanji-kun, that was so brave but…"

To her surprise Sanji stirred as she held him, grimacing but looking up at her, his eyes almost turning into hearts at the sight of the amount of under-boob he could see from this angle, but his pain stopped him from enjoying it as much as he would have otherwise. "Ugh, I, I'm still here, Nami-swan. More importantly, are you and Conis alright?"

"We are fine," Nami said, shaking her head. "You just rest there; we'll see to your wounds.

Staring at the damage the cook had taken, Hina shivered, feeling honest fear for the first time in a while as she began to have an idea of what they might be dealing with here. "Lightning," she whispered shaking her head. "One of the Logia types that can profess to be unbeatable." _That isn't good at all, not good at all._

She had some knowledge of the six techniques, but her ability with Busoshoku was minimal at best. The only one on the crew who could possibly fight a logia user was Luffy perhaps, and she wouldn't want to bet money on that. "So, this is what their God is," she said coldly, shaking her head.

"Indeed," McKinley shouted, moving up to them as he looked at Sanji in surprise, not just at his survival but his earlier act. The man, in fact, looked rather shaken, as if his world view had taken a severe beating. But despite that, he continued on. "You Blue Sea dwellers might still be able to leave if you are quick about it, Kami-sama doesn't particularly care if you live or die. But Conis has now crossed a line. She, a Skypiean, has betrayed Kami-sama, speaking of his laws to outsiders. She will be punished, and if you keep her with you, she will bring Kami-sama's wrath down on you too."

Hina scowled, gesturing around her to her marines who were once more forming up having scattered earlier. Now under her glare, they were looking a little sheepish, a little respectful of Sanji when they looked at him, and a lot fearful, as they stared up at the sky above them, wondering what that had been. Hina thought briefly she should be a little more understanding of their cowardice, after all, against that power, cowardice could truly be seen as a survival trait.

She set that to the side though to glare at McKinley. "Who do you think you're fooling! This was obviously a trap from the first! We leave, and we will suddenly be faced with threats from your God, perhaps even forced to go to this Holy Land place on your terms. This God of yours will not let us go."

Caught out in a lie and indeed having propagated the lie of another, McKinley didn't even try to prevaricate. "You are correct. But if you leave Conis behind, you will merely be forced to deal with Kami-sama's priests, not Kami-sama's wrath yourself. On the one hand, you might survive, some of you. If you do not leave her behind, you will all die. There is no defense against Kami-sama's power, as your fellow could tell you."

Sanji grimaced. "As much as I hate to say it, that attack broke my Busoshoku as if it wasn't even there. If that attack had continued, it would have killed me." He pushed himself to his feet shakily, pushing Nami away to stand on his own, still smoking feet, "But I won't even let us think about leaving Conis-chwan behind."

"Then might I offer a solution?" a new voice asked, bringing everyone's attention up and to the side of the docks. There flew the Knight of the Sky, the old man in the full plate armor and the pink-polka dotted bird. "I heard the cry for aid, and so I appear," he went on with a barely discernible smile through his beard. "But while McKinley is correct, bringing Conis along would be dangerous for you, there are places beyond the touch of Enel."

"Enel?" Nami asked while Conis and many of the other Skypieans, including McKinley were staring at the old man, hope, fear and a lot of other emotions visible on their faces.

"Ah, that would be the current Kami's name," the old man said, smiling somewhat bitterly. "But that is not the point right now. The point is, there are places out of his reach and I can take Conis to one such. I will even return and take her father with me soon."

"I…" Conis seemed to shake, then nodded her head firmly, moving out from where she had been standing beside Nami and Sanji. "I will go with you, K, Gan Fall-san. Thank you."

"No thanks are necessary my dear, this is merely my role as Knight of the Sky," The old man replied, something bitter in his tone to Hina and Nami's ears.

They didn't say anything though, watching as Conis made her way over to the bird-turned-Pegasus getting on behind the man with a sigh, leaning her head against the back of his armored shoulders. It looked as if, whatever else, the young woman trusted Gan Fall almost implicitly.

Sanji took some comfort in that as his legs finally gave out and he stumbled, causing Hina to grab him and then order several of her marines to look after him. Gan Fall looked at Sanji, raising his lance in token of respect. "I thank you for aiding young Conis here, but you all must start your journey now. Whatever trials await you will not be as bad as incurring Kami's wrath further. If fate decrees it, however, you will win through and we can see one another again. Farewell!" with that he sent his steed high into the air and away, leaving the two pirates and the marines behind.

Around them, the locals had all retreated further and now the entire wharf area seemed deserted. Hina took this in and made a point to look around for McKinley wanting to smash him one before they left, before sighing, realizing they really did need to leave. _I suppose a chance to survive is better than none, after all._ "Fullbody?"

"Yes, Captain Hina! I have found the most seaworthy vessel and it is indeed somewhat provisioned. If we are able to get away from these priests we should be able to get down to the White Sea at least," Fullbody reported, saluting. Behind him, the marines were already untying a large Waver ship, about the size of a schooner like the _Resolve_ , but with lower sides and no cannons. It had a single over-large mast, but it was obviously just for emergencies given the large set of Breath Dials at the back of the vessel. At the prow was a carved image of a giant angry red bull.

"Let's go then," Hina said, gesturing Nami to join them. Nami did so while wondering how her own crew was faring. She didn't have long to wonder about that however, as, the moment the Waver had begun to pick up speed, there were two clunks from either side of the vessel. She turned from where she had been steering to stare at the claws that had just latched onto their vessel.

Hina raced to one side while Fullbody did the same to the other, bringing his steel-encased knuckles down in a blow that would have caved in wood. But he howled as his blow bounced off the shrimp's armor, wringing out his hand and cursing quietly. "What in the heck is this thing made of?"

Hina encased the top portion of the claw in one of her handcuffs before she tried to pull up, not breaking the armor but trying to break the shrimp's grip. As she did, she looked behind their new ship and sighed, releasing the technique. "Is that a long line of these same kinds of shrimp behind us sergeant?"

The oldest of her marines nodded, moving to the stern and popping open a looking glass. "Yes ma'am, it goes as far as I can see too."

"And are those angry asterisks I can see on the faces of those first few?" Hina asked. "Hina incredulous."

"Yes, they are," Nami said for the sergeant, shaking her head. "And I'd wager that has something to do with the rest of my crew. Pissing people off is something of a Luffy-specialty."

"In that case, I doubt we could get away from them at all. Damn it. It looks as if we've no choice but to try to survive whatever judgment these priests attempt to force us to do. Hina pissed off," Hina cursed.

An instant later the ship was lifted out of the water and the shrimp under them started to zoom along far, far faster than even a schooner could have moved at full sail, throwing more than a few marines off their feet. Nami and Hina moved to the prow, staring as ahead of them the distant mound of the Holy Land began to grow. The speed of the journey got so bad that Hina had to lock them all down, but at least that kept them all from flying off.

The speedy journey of the bull ship, which none of the Marines had bothered to get the name of, ended as abruptly as it began. When Nami finally looked around, they were stuck on a ziggurat of some kind in the center of a small lake. There was one entrance to the lake directly behind the ship, a steeply inclined river made of Island Cloud, with dozens of sky shark fins flashing around in the water. All around them, the jungle loomed.

"Ah, I see, we are a sacrifice then. This system I suppose would be to imply piety or something in the Skypieans who convince us to put ourselves in a position the shrimp can capture us?" Hina mused, standing up and throwing her hair back rubbing one hand down the chest of her maroon officer's uniform, then into a pocket, picking out a cigarette from the box Sanji had given her.

"Allow me, mademoiselle," Sanji said, moving through the marines to hold out a flaming match.

"Thank you Cook-kun," Hina said with a smile, noticing that the cook had somehow recovered from his earlier electrocution. That implied one of two things: either the lightning had been far weaker than she had first thought, which was unlikely, or Sanji, and therefore the other Straw Hat Pirates, were a lot tougher than she had thought. _Since I just saw him use Busoshoku, no matter how poorly, it would be best to just go with that thought._

Setting that aside she nodded at Sanji then turned as they both took a drag from their respective cigarettes, staring all around them.

"Wh, what should we do captain?" Fullbody asked, while around them the marines pushed themselves to their feet or stared at the four corners of the top of the ziggurat. In each corner, a pole thrust toward the sky, all of which were adorned with several skulls dangling from long ropes worked through their eyes. The effect was frightening, and more than a little scary.

Nami looked around too, shaking her head. "Well, so long as Sanji is able to get a rope over into those trees, I guess we can… just leave?" she asked, looking over at Hina.

Hina nodded firmly. "Hina agrees. We don't need this ship really, so it is best to leave this place and force the enemy to come to us on the move. Even if the enemy knows the jungle better than we do it can't be as bad as being stuck out here in the open with no way to retreat quickly."

"Hai, captain Hina!" shouted the marines and, Nami was irritated to note, Sanji too. A second later Hina and Sanji had hopped into the air, carrying two long ropes made up of all the ropes they had on the ship. The marine captain then created two more long chains of interconnected handcuffs to hang next to the two ropes. They then joined the others back on the bull ship.

Fullbody grabbed one, and with the marines and Sanji looking on, nodded firmly. Every man there nodded back, then he took a deep breath and leaped forward swinging away from the ziggurat, a yodel coming from his mouth. "Ahaaaaahaaaahaaaaaaahhhhh!"

"Yes!" yelled some of the marines, while others clapped and one, the sergeant shouted, "Well done LT, that's the way!"

Hina blinked, shaking her head, looking at Nami and wordlessly gesturing. "Don't look at me," Nami said, crossing her hands. "I've no idea what's up with that."

"Oh, Nami-swan, but you have to yodel when you swing like that in a forest. It's both traditional and cool," Sanji said, grinning at the ladies over his cigarette.

Both Hina and Nami looked at him blankly then shook their heads and turned to watch as the rest of the marines began to follow Fullbody across. Each man shouted out his own war cry as he did, causing Hina's eyebrows to start twitching, as Nami just shook her head slowly. Soon they were all across taking with them packs of food, their few remaining guns, and the cutlasses and daggers they had been given from the _Resolve_ 's armory and the ones they had taken from the White Berets. None of them had taken any of their Dials, not understanding how to use them, but they were still decently armed for all their travails of late.

Hina and Sanji hopped over to join the other marines, with Sanji, his eyes having changed into hearts, carrying Nami. Once they were all once more on terra-firma or the wood equivalent, Hina looked around them, frowning in thought. "Where to go from here, I wonder…"

Nami however pointed directly up from where she was still in Sanji's arms. How he had recovered so quickly was beyond her, but she wasn't about to ignore it. "Let's get the lay of the land first. Something about this…" she gestured down at the Ziggurat, "Something about it is sparking in my memory."

Hina looked at the pirate navigator and sighed. With all their current issues, the idea of splitting off from the pirates just no longer made sense. She was worried about the long-term ramifications of that, but for now, she was willing to ignore that in favor of using Nami's uncanny navigator abilities. "Lead the way."

For a time, the marines, Sanji and Nami slowly made their way up into the trees. While Hina dealt with this easily, a mix of Geppo, pure endurance and her Bind-Bind Fruit making the climb a relatively easy thing for her. Nami got out of Sanji's arms soon enough, and she too seemed to take the climb in stride, only nearly falling a few times to be saved by Sanji who, despite his earlier encounter with God's wrath, was able to deal with the jungle easily enough. In fact, both pirates were grinning, Hina was amused to note. Sanji's was a genuine sign of pleasure, while Nami's was a sort of rictus thing, but the navigator still pushed on.

Hina's marines, on the other hand, were not having a good time. Many of them were still, despite her training earlier that day, not used to the air up here, and were far weaker for it. Others simply lacked her endurance, and so she had to fall back and help them occasionally, including Fullbody.

"What is keeping you going?" Hina asked looking at Nami was the troop took a water break. "I know you don't have that much more strength than my marines, but every time you nearly fall, you just keep going."

"Heh, well my captain might have had a point earlier. Adventures like this, they're why we came to sea in the first place, in my case to map out islands like this. And while I don't exactly like having my life threatened every time I turn around, at least no one's actively trying to kill us right now. That just makes this a fun jungle exploration, even if the trees are just too freaking huge to believe!"

"Right," Fullbody said, gesturing. "I mean, look at the trunk of that one fallen tree over there…

Fullbody fell silent as there was a rustling noise and what everyone assumed was a tree, which had fallen onto its side, began to move, twisting this way and that, as a giant head made itself known to one side. The thing looked like a python, but it was just huge, as in, it looked as if it could gulp the bull ship they'd just left without having to swallow. Its eyes were heavy-lidded, almost sleepy looking but they sharpened as it spotted the marines below it, opening its mouth and hissing.

"You were saying?" Hina asked, chains beginning to appear around her hands as she stared at the giant snake.

"Ugh, me and my big mouth!" Nami said, before turning and shrieking as she ran away from the snake, which surged forward towards the marines.

 **OOOOOOO**

Zoro found himself wrapped around by string that Shura had just set on fire. He grimaced in some pain, but pushed through it, lashing out at the next fireball with a barely formed air pressure attack with Yubashiri before twisting around to kick off a branch and hop through the air to attack Shura in turn. A series of engagements later, Shura again deflected one of Zoro's blades to the side, reaching through his defenses to his chest. "Tekkai!" Zoro growled, right before the Impact Dial went off.

He grunted, but that was about it, and Shura had do dodge wildly to get out of the way of the attack. The man's face and eyes widened, as he fell back, feeling a small runnel of blood dripping down from one cheek.

This was how the battle had gone from the instant both sides started to take one another seriously about five minutes ago. While Zoro could tank blows, he wasn't the type to do so without responding, and Shura's Mantra was incredibly good allowing him to dodge practically every attack Zoro tried. He flew around the fight, using his bird as if the bird was an extension of his own body. Occasionally the bird would use the flamethrower attack from his mouth, something that Zoro wondered about the mechanism for. But more often than not, it was lance against sword, with Shura's greater speed and agility in the air offsetting Zoro's greater skill.

In return, Zoro was too tough for the priest to put down with his Impact Dial and his string had also proven ineffective. The man still tried to use it occasionally, and Zoro would slow down and take a punch or a blow from the Lance before breaking the string and returning one, forcing the man to retreat, having seen in his Mantra that even a single clear hit from Zoro's Santoryu would end him. That knowledge, that despite the fact he seemed to be winning he could not land a final blow, seemed to be frustrating Shura no end.

As Luffy watched, he slowly started to notice that. "Shura is losing it," he said aloud. The others looked at him quizzically, and he waved them off. "Just trust me on this, he's getting frustrated with the Impact Dial and how Zoro is simply taking every blow from it and continuing on. "

"What does that mean for Zoro?" Makino asked though she had a good idea.

Luffy shrugged. "He doesn't have much of a choice. With string countered by strength and not able to use it freely without some setup time and his Impact countered by endurance and Tekkai that means he only has his lance as an offensive weapon. But Zoro's a better weapon's user, and the whole Santoryu style can give anyone issues, much less someone like him, who's so dependent on his beast for air travel and… hmm, honestly doesn't seem to be all that flexible in his thinking, if not in his abilities."

Robin made an interrogative noise, and Chopper asked, "What do you mean?"

"In combat, you need to be able to roll with the punches, and I don't mean just your opponent's attacks, but the overall battle, any setbacks or changes to the environment and such like," Luffy said with a shrug. "Shura, he came into this fight all arrogant, and hasn't quite recovered from the shock of his string not working."

"Perfectly understandable," Makino muttered, shuddering. Luffy had freed them all after doing the same to the ship, then dropping the anchor. Both women, and Chopper too, had been utterly helpless until Luffy had broken them out, none of them having the strength or durability to break out on their own.

"Yeah, maybe. But on top of that, his style is based on what he calls Mantra giving him warning of incoming attacks. But Zoro's change in style to a more instinctual style, one that relies entirely on reading Shura instead of Zoro's own attacks, has thrown him off."

Sure enough, in the next few moments, Zoro too noticed a change in his enemy's attack. He stopped trying to use the Impact Dial and continued to try to use the lance while scowling angrily. That was good since Zoro was starting to feel the continual punishment from that weapon. _Good, now to see if I can somehow take that bird out of the fight._

However, that brief moment of attention on the bird was enough to give the priest Mantra a hint as to what he was up to and he smiled grimly. "Trying to target Fuza?" he asked shaking his head sorrowfully. "It must be so irritating to be so weak that you have to search for such a weakness. Still, never fear, I will put you out of your misery soon."

Anger roiled within Zoro and he slowly canceled his Geppo technique, coming to land on a nearby branch. When he spoke, it was with a certain amount of malice aforethought. "You seem awfully quick to call me weak, but I'm not the one who's been kissing the ass of this 'God' dick. Or should that be kissing God's dick?" he quipped, sneering.

"You know not of what you speak!" Shura shouted, his temper fraying again. "Enel-sama is Kami-sama, he is unbeatable, all-powerful and all-seeing. Repent sinner!"

"Hah!" Zoro said, crouching down and thrusting his swords out to both sides. "No one is unbeatable you ass, not you and not your God." As he did so, his will started to manifest around him, not in the form of Haki, but as a strange, ghostly image of some kind of animal, perhaps a demonic jellyfish or something similar. At the same time, steam actually began to rise from his swords, making them seem to waver in the air to the watchers.

"Enbima Yonezu Oni Giri!" Zoro shouted, zooming forward. He sliced forward with his swords like in a normal Oni Giri attack, but instead of being a direct, easily discernable attack, his swords wavered almost multiplying in the air as they crossed in front of him.

Despite the way this attack seemed to multiple Zoro's blades, Shura was still able to block most of the slashes. He even returned one, the attack planned out just enough to let him see it coming. But the effort to this took all of his skill in Mantra, overloading it almost at last, which was what Zoro had hoped. Because of this, he missed the way Zoro had closed until it was too late, because he hadn't closed directly with Shura, but instead had gotten below him, aiming at his bird. The final attack, a horizontal slash from Wado Ichimonji, sliced into the bird, cutting it in half from beak to tail.

"Damn you!" Shura roared in rage and grief, leaping off his dead mount as the pieces sloughed off one another. Bouncing off a nearby tree. The next instant he came at Zoro's intent on impaling him in the chest. This time he was too quick, and Zoro was slow to recover from his previous attack and the priest finally managed to get a clean hit without Zoro being able to activate his odd variant of Tekkai. "Burn!" the lance activated, burning Zoro at the point of impact. "Die for your sins against my lord Enel and for Fuza!"

But to his shock, Zoro didn't die, he didn't even scream. He simply grimaced, his eyes blazing under his bandana as he stared back at the man. "Is that all? Is that the extent of your life, serving this God of yours? Sorry, but my dream is bigger than that. No way am I going to die here." He raised his blades and, as the man pulled back his lance to thrust it in harder, shouted, "Tatsumaki!" spinning in place. He spun so fast he created a tornado, a tornado, with the wind going so fast and 'sharpened' in a way so much that it sliced through the metal of Shura's lance.

Shura gaped as he pulled back his lance fully to try to use it to defend, only to watch as the attack sliced into his lance, bisecting it like the lance was made of dry wood. "Impossible, how, my Mantra failed, my how…" He didn't have time to try and figure out what to do or even how this had happened because Zoro's attack kept going, Sendai Kitetsu slicing into his body before Wado Ichimonji took his head from his shoulders.

As the body of his enemy fell to the jungle floor in front of him, Zoro sheathed Sendai Kitetsu and Yubashiri then pulled his damp bandanna off his head before sheathing Wado Ichimonji and patting his new scar on his chest, the heat of his enemy's lance having seared the wound partially shut shaking his head. "These angel-looking assholes have some weird abilities," he said aloud, looking over to the ship, "but their ability to take damage isn't up to our standards."

"Meh, that might be true, but I still prefer not to get hit if I can help it," Luffy said jokingly although his eyes were serious as he gestured for Zoro to come back to the ship. "But that fight showed that we can't be complacent, the 'God' here might not be the only threat, and his own threat level may well be a hell of a lot higher than I expected, if a guy like that one is so convinced of his superiority. For now, you should let our Doctor take a look at you before he has a complete panic attack."

"That's right you crazy bastard!" Chopper shouted, bouncing up onto the railing. "Every hit from that Impact Dial probably did internal damage! Each shot might not have mattered much alone, but the accumulation is bound to have caused issues, no matter how tough you are!"

"Can't you praise me for winning first before going all worried old woman on me Chopper?" Zoro grumbled, making his way over to the ship, as Robin tossed him a line.

"Congratulations on winning, Zoro," said Luffy with a laugh, before both women said, "Now go get yourself seen to by Chopper," also laughing at him lightly.

Grumbling under his breath, Zoro did so, while Luffy turned his attention to the body of Shura, frowning thoughtfully.

 **OOOOOOO**

Those present on the _Resolve_ didn't realize that everything that had occurred had been seen from afar via the Mantra of the Enel, the man who was called Kami by the locals. Now feeling the death of one of his priests he began to laugh wildly, shaking his head as around him his attendants watched in some confusion and fear. What a magnificent show these Blue Sea dwellers put on, and I know that the barbarians will take advantage of it too. Yet, work is finished on the Ark. Yes, yes I think yes!

We will have a festival!" he said aloud, startling many to twitch, as that had been the first thing he'd said in over thirty minutes. "Send for my priests, oh, but don't bother sending for Shura, he isn't in a position to answer. Oh, and send for my chief enforcer as well. We will begin preparations for a giant game. A Survival Game to be held here in Upper Yard!"

 **OOOOOOO**

Aisa shivered suddenly, breaking away from where she had been forced to learn needlework, racing over to Laki, who was making bullets for her rifle, taking the specialized resin-coated nuts of a tree and setting them in a long row as she carved them into the appropriate shape for her rifle. "Laki! Something happened! Something happened!"

"Calm down Aisa," Laki said, shaking her head at the little girl's excitement. "What's happened?"

"One of the priests, he's dead!"

"What!? What do you mean one of the priests is dead!?" the older girl shouted, garnering attention from nearby warriors who were also preparing for their next raid. Soon Wyper was called along with his officers, and Laki gestured for Aisa to talk.

"I sensed one of the priests fighting someone on the Blue Sea dwellers, one of the stronger three, one of the ones who glow brighter than normal people in my Mantra, while another one of the stronger ones was just looking on for some reason. But, but the Blue Sea dweller won! The priest, I think it was Shura, is dead!"

Wyper's eyes widened, then he began to laugh. "Perhaps, if you put two problems together, they cancel each other out!" he shouted aloud as he looked around at his Braves. "Tonight, we attack in earnest, leave everything but your weapons behind. This time, we will not retreat, we will keep attacking until I take Kami's head!"

He was answered with a roar as the warriors of the clan prepared themselves for total war.

 **End Chapter**

* * *

Hmm, I don't honestly think Shura and Zoro's fight is my best work, but I think it showed how the crew and their own skills match up against the Priest's generic abilities. Regardless, since we have now entered the Sky Island Arc in truth, this story will remain in the monthly polls until it is finished. If you want to have more say in what I update per month as well as access to the next twelve chapters of _Making Waves_ and other patty on only content, please consider signing up over on my patty on page. Hope you all enjoyed this and be on the look-out for my monthly poll to be up by late tonight. It will run until the 15th.


	18. Chapter 18

I'm not named Oda nor Rumiko.

As you all can hopefully see, _Stallion of the Line_ won this month's small story poll. I hope that trend continues until this arc is finished. 1,123 with 203 votes coming in from fanfic, beating out its next closest contender, _GDWHOM_ , which had a total of 1,054 and an amusingly close 202 votes from here.

For those interested, _Magic of the Force_ walked away with the large story poll, scoring a whopping 1504 to 1096 for _Horse of the Force_. I did not anticipate people would want to see the political talk coming up next chapter, but you will see that updated at the end of the month.

A reminder however. There will be no SW story in October. _A Third Path_ will instead be updated.

This has been edited by **Tomon** , me and **Hiryo**. None of us are as good as **Michael Duggan** on spotting small mistakes, but hopefully, there aren't enough small mistakes to bother your enjoyment of the chapter.

* * *

 **Chapter 18: An Eventful Night**

Luffy and the five explorers with him were still moving along the rocky road, which wound its way around and up and down through the large jungle that seemed to dominate the island that they now knew to be Jaya. As they went, the ship sailed out from the jungle up into another area of the island that seemed to rest on Sky Cloud. There was a small field, which looked almost as if it had been populated by wheat, although Luffy could tell it was just tremendously large grass and weeds. He could see the field that was dotted by poles with skulls stuck on top of them. Here the ship had slowed down, the sails turned to push against the current, while Robin hopped off, taking with her a few of Chopper's beakers.

"What are you up to?" Zoro asked gruffly from where he sat on the prow of the ship, a large, heavy spike of metal jutting out from the rest of the ship that could be used to ram other ships. _We need to look into changing that,_ the first mate thought idly. _It's a little too large of a sign that the Resolve used to be a Marine ship_.

"I wish to see if I can discern a date on those skulls and take further samples of the soil. I find it fascinating that all of the plants and everything else has grown to such an extent."

Zoro grunted, but with Luffy up in the crow's nest and not indicated he cared one way or another, he left his spot to go and drop the anchor.

Or would have, if Chopper hadn't seen him start to move. "Dammit Zoro, stop moving already you asshole! I told you, I've told you many times that moving under Tekkai hurts your tendons extensively and you keep doing it! Stay put until that salve I rubbed on your joints fades into your skin or else!"

"Of course I do, it's better than taking a hit without it. And this stuff stinks, Chopper." The stuff in question was a thin greenish salve that could be rubbed into your skin like sunscreen but stunk to high heaven, and Chopper had smeared it all over Zoro's arms and shoulders, before putting a double dose on Zoro's elbows and other joints.

"Good, maybe next time you'll think twice about using Tekkai while moving," Chopper huffed. "Honestly, how you even got it into your head that was at all a good idea is beyond me. Now you just sit there, I'll go drop the anchor. And if you move again I'll feed you that salve!"

Robin was back shortly thereafter, shaking her head. "The skulls are recent, ranging from three years ago to barely two weeks, even if they had been well preserved. The soil is pretty much the same as elsewhere. This field must once have been a farm, there are still some scattered wheat stalks among the grass."

Zoro grunted, not looking at her as she climbed aboard via her Devil Fruit powers. Instead, he was staring up towards the crow's nest.

"What are you looking at?" Robin asked, turning to stare in that direction.

"Oh, nothing, just thinking again, remembering that I picked one hell of a crew to join, and perhaps the only Captain for someone like me," Zoro replied.

Robin blinked, then cocked her head. "Is, Luffy balancing on top of the flagpole?"

Luffy was indeed balancing on top of the pirate ship's flagpole above the mainmast, shifting his stance this way and that, going through a martial arts kata from Anything Goes. It was ironically taken from Tàijí Quán, a style Genma had always derided. But this kata had been designed by Happy, and had been combined with a kata from Nanquan, merged into Anything Goes in an even more flowing, an even more graceful whole. At slow speeds like what Luffy was doing now, it trained balance, body control, and flexibility. At high speeds, it was one of the more impressive katas, and one, which formed the basis of Aerial Style training.

It was one of Luffy's favorites, a mix of grace and skill that was exhilarating to work through, yet at the moment, Luffy was more focused inward. This was just what he did with his body as his mind was elsewhere.

Luffy had been semi-impressed by what Shura had called Sky Island combat tactics. The use of Dials in combat, the existence of the Impact Dial, the Heat Dial as a weapon, the tiny, easily shattered Dial that had created the string trap. All of that was interesting. That was why he'd searched the guy's body for his Impact Dial, the only Dial he'd used still in one piece after the fight. But all of those tricks could be overcome with enough skill, durability, and striking power, as Zoro had shown

But what had really impressed him was that Shura guy's use of what he had called Mantra, and what Luffy knew as Kenbunshoku. The priest's ability with it had been pretty darn good, and he'd only started to be hit when Zoro figure out a way around it, using instinct to overcome any kind of forward planning that Shura could discern. After that, Shura's command of Mantra had slipped with every minute the fight kept going, his frustration getting in the way of his ability with it. _And the way he called it Mantra; it stands to reason that there are others out there who know it. Including this 'God' guy. And to combat it, you either need to be too fast for the Kenbunshoku user to keep up with or have some of your own._

Luffy knew that that Kenbunshoku was actually his weakest area. Oh, he had a sixth sense for danger, he could sense incoming attacks on him at times and often knew when someone was watching him. But once the battle began, he relied more on his ability to read his opponents, rather than to read their intent, or their minds as sometimes seems to be the case with Kenbunshoku. And Zoro won through overwhelming the other guy with his endurance _. It's an okay strategy in the short run, but not so great in the long run, especially if we run into this God guy and he's as strong as the locals all seem to think._

And Luffy didn't like that strategy anyway. He most decidedly was not the kind of guy who wanted to get hit more often than he had to. Oh, he had a good grasp of Busoshoku and had been training it extensively since leaving Alabasta behind, when he wasn't training everyone else. But that was just it: there was only so much time in the day, and Luffy had prioritized training his crew over training himself. But that might well have proven to be a mistake now if he had to face Impact Dials and worse. The huge blast of energy that Nami and Makino had mentioned bothered him, though Luffy hadn't let that dissuade him from his love of adventure.

 _Still, while I can't really do much to heighten my ability with Busoshoku Haki in a single sitting, maybe I can do something with Kenbunshoku._ With that thought Luffy frowned, and started to concentrate, first inward, then sort of…spreading his mind out beyond himself. That was the only way Luffy could describe it, like pushing out his senses into the world around him. _Or maybe becoming a sort of giant microphone, drawing everything in?_

 _Maybe that's why I've never had much luck with it, I just never ran into someone who could explain it to me properly. Gramps didn't have it, and Shanks, well Shanks wasn't all that good a teacher. It doesn't matter now I suppose._

Over the next hour, Luffy continued to try to open his mind to the world beyond his head, and by the end of that time, he had a headache but had found his crewmates below. Pushing past them, past the edge of the _Resolve_ was hard, and every yard or so he was able to sense added its own pressure to his mind, increasing the pain. Pressing further out, Luffy gritted his teeth, starting to sweat a lot more than his kata should have allowed for.

Zoro noticed and frowned up at him when he started to sweat so much it dripped down onto the deck far below. _What's he doing?_ "Yo, Luffy! What are you up to?"

Luffy waved him off with one hand, slowing down his martial arts technique even further. "I am trying to use that Kenbunshoku. It's hard," he said understating it by orders of magnitude. Trying to make the jump between his normal sixth sense and the Kenbunshoku was like trying to create the color blue with a red crayon, there was just very little way you could connect the two.

Still, over the next few hours, he continued to try, pushing his senses out further. Luffy figured that if he could add range now, he could practice the anticipation aspect when he found something interesting to 'watch', like an animal fighting or something.

As the sun started to set, Luffy blinked as he felt something on the edge of his awareness, something was out there, something large. And then he felt others around it, people, and almost instantly recognized one of them right off the bat when he somehow detected the movements of that personality for a second, lashing out with a kick into the giant beast. The beast didn't even flinch, continuing on its way to attack several others, people who felt somehow weaker to Luffy's senses.

 _Huh, what's Sanji doing here? And… is that Hina and Nami there?_ He felt something again from one of the other people out there, as she seemed to almost expand, while the other was staring at something but still able to dodge away from the large creature. Whatever Hina did was dodged by the snake and then she felt her presence go flying. It was all very vague, but still, Luffy could tell that they were in trouble.

Flipping off of the top of the flagpole, Luffy landed on the deck a second later with a lightness that caused Robin to blink. He pulled his hat off his head, which had remained stuck to his head like glue throughout the techniques and held it out to her asking, "Would you mind holding this for me? I'm afraid I'm going to have to go and rescue our two missing crewmates. And maybe I'll rescue the Marines too."

"Wait, what?" Zoro asked sharply. "What do you mean? What's going on?"

"Sanji is out there, and I think I detected Nami too. Can tell whether or not all the Marines were, I think they're just out of my range, but I sensed Hina for a second."

"Which way?" Makino asked quickly.

Luffy pointed south and west, from the current position, back sort of the way they'd come and to the west. "Keep the ship here for now," he said hopping into the air, "will be back."

Zoro nodded, then asked with a smirk, "So, does this count as your fight or not?"

"Considering they aren't facing a person no," Luffy said shot back with a laugh as Robin took his hat.

"What are they facing than?" she asked quizzically. "I cannot imagine an animal that can give our cook any trouble."

"Your imagination needs some work then because it is some kind of animal I think. It felt like a giant freaking snake, larger than the smaller trees we've been seeing."

Robin's eyes widened slightly while Chopper shivered in fear.

"Ah, that would do it," Makino said with a nod. A second later, she and the others watched Luffy bouncing up into the air and away.

As he went, Luffy pushed out his senses again, grateful that he had gotten into the habit of meditating while doing kata, so that he could fall into this kind of state with relative ease. He couldn't do it in a fight yet, not when he was actually reacting to events. But he could see that happening sometime soon, and hopefully exerting himself like this would make for good training _. The real test will be to see if I can keep it up. I just hope that they can last until I get there, although, with Sanji and Hina both there, I doubt that's really in question._

 **OOOOOOO**

Nami stared, from where she was standing on top of a giant tree branch, down into a small area directly above what looked to be a cliff face. There, set in among the roots of several smaller trees – small only in comparison to the giants that grew further inland, was what looked like half a shack. Half of a very familiar shack. "What in the world is going on here?!"

Then she had to scream and dodge aside as the giant snake, a kind of boa constrictor, Nami thought, burst out of the woods behind her. She barely got out of its way in time, shouting in shock as she did, watching as the thing coiled back at the edge of the cliff, intending to crash back down on either her or one of the others.

The snake was huge, so big it looked as if it could swallow several humans whole at the same time. It had fangs larger than Nami was tall, yellow eyes, which had at first seemed lazy, but were now wide awake, and these facial tendrils that drooped from either side of its mouth. It was colored green and dark blue and had blended into the jungle to a frightening degree despite its size at first. Luckily, once it started moving that ability had gone away. Not so luckily, the thing was a lot faster than its size should suggest. Up to this point thanks to Sanji and Hina, no one had been eaten, but Nami was getting sick and tired of it. "God damn it you stupid snake, go and eat one of the freaking marines, not me!"

"Oy!" shouted many of the marines scattered through the jungle around her.

"You shitty snake! How dare you try to eat Nami-swan, I'll make you into snake stew!" With a shout, Sanji slammed his foot into the side of the snake as it passed by him, causing that portion of the snake to rise off of the ground and twitch away. But the rest of the snake simply continued to coil around, hissing at him as the head came up and around to glare at him. "That's right you shitty ingredient come on!"

The snake hissed then launched itself down toward him, its fanged mouth open. Sanji immediately twisted to one side, but the snake followed him, twisting its body in such a way as to keep up the chase, ignoring the marines around it as they quickly retreated. Then it moved into the area right alongside Hina who grinned around her cigarette.

"Well done cook!" Hina shouted as she dropped to her knees on the ground slamming her open hands down on the ground and pulsing her Ori Ori Devil Fruit powers into it. "Iron Beast Cage!"

From under the dirt and the large tree roots sprang hundreds of lines of bars, like a large maw flashing up into a cage that the snake slammed into before the lines of handcuffs continued on to embedding into the ground once more, creating a near-solid sphere of bars around the snake's head. However, even as Hina embedded the sides of the cage into the ground once more, the snake was already rearing back, slamming up into the top of the cage, smashing through it before it could be completed. This bound the beast yes, but not as solidly as it should have.

Hina instantly leaped away, breaking the physical connection to her technique, as she watched the snake, starting to tear its way out of the cage with monstrous strength. She paused on a branch, taking a long drag from her cigarette as she stared at the thing as it hissed at her and the Marines all around her, who are still trying futilely to fire their few remaining guns into the thing. "You're a tough one," she commented.

"How can you two be so calm!" shouted more than one voice.

But Fullbody's raced forward, his fist cocked back. "Don't worry Captain Hina, I've got a technique designed to do internal damage, that'll let me bypass this thing's rubbery hide entirely! Watch this, Internal Rupture Punch!"

But to the man's shocked dismay, the punch bounced off the snake's thick hide. The next second, the snake just flexed its body a little right there, like a horse twitching lightly to get rid of a fly. The movement sent him flying away through the air. "GAAAHhhh!"

"That was just pathetic," Sanji said shaking his head sorrowfully at the other flirt's bad showing.

"How do we get this thing to stop chasing us?!" Nami shouted, looking around at the other marines. They were all still around as far as she could tell, but they were getting battered badly, and beyond Hina, none of them had contributed. As pathetic as Fullbody's showing had been, the others had actually done worse. Their bullets simply bounced off, their cutlasses couldn't penetrate, and all of them were just too slow and too weak to do anything to this giant creature.

Sanji frowned, also taking a drag of his cigarette as he watched the Marines retreating. The snake had tried numerous times to eat them in bushels. But luckily for them, its large body actually meant it wasn't nearly as fast as it otherwise might have been. And before this, Hina had jumped in whenever one of them happened to be in trouble. Still, as the ruins of her latest attempt to hold the snake still showed, it wasn't going very well.

Then, just as the snake got loose from Hina's cage Luffy arrived with a shout of, "Geronimo!"

With that odd shout, Hina watched as the pigtailed pirate landed on the snake snouts, slamming it back down into the ground, and flipping around to land on the snake's face further back. He then bared his teeth, raising his fist and slamming it hard into one of its eyes.

With an angry bellowing hiss, the snake reared up, hurling Luffy up into the air, then trying to snap at him only for Luffy to bounce around it via Geppo and slamming another blow into its eye again causing it to hiss and stumble back in the air, raising some of its coils to protect its face. This didn't save it quickly enough, and another overhead blow from Luffy, once more embedded the snake's snout into the dirt and roots of the jungle floor. This didn't save it quickly enough and it found its head once more embedded into the ground by an overhead blow from Luffy that smashed its head into the dirt and roots of the jungle floor.

Staring down at the giant snake that instantly tried to pull itself out, Luffy shook his head, looking around at the scattered marines and his two crewmen. "Now would be a good time for you all to run."

Most of the Marines did not need to be told twice and Luffy pointed directly back in the direction he had come from. "That way lies our ship, I've got no idea how long it'll take you to get there on your feet though."

Hina and Nami both look in that direction, while Sanji bounced up next to his captain. Luffy's eyes narrowed as he took in the cook, seeing the singed clothing, and the burn marks here and there on his skin. "What kind of cook are you that you would lose a fight with a fireplace Sanji?" he asked in a teasing tone of voice even as his one eyebrow cocked in query.

The cook breathed in a long drag from his cigarette, shaking his head. "It turns out that the local God is no believer in chivalry towards the ladies. I might have to find him in order to remonstrate with him most severely on that point."

"Yeah, I imagine you'll have to force-feed him some of your logic there," Luffy quipped with a grin.

"That was hurtful Captain," the cook said with a laugh and Luffy slapped him on the shoulder, lightly for him as he noticed the cook still was a little damaged around the edges.

By this point, the snake had revived itself and was coiled back in on them again, hissing angrily. Luffy scowled, examining the thing's eyes as it came at him, dodging at the last minute, only to watch as the thing twitched aside from one of his punches. "So it's smart enough to learn?" _Heh, good. Smart enough to learn, smart enough to understand taunts._

"It seems to be!" Hina called from below. "It's also pretty much indestructible to everything we've been doing to it."

Luffy nodded, frowning thoughtfully. "Fine, I'll lead this thing off on a chase and then come back to the ship after. Sanji, keep watching Nami and the others yea?"

"I don't need to be told do watch over Nami-chwan Luffy!" Sanji shouted as his captain slammed into the face of the snake with both feet, which this time had not been able to see him coming fast enough. He bounced up higher into the air, turned and slapped his ass towards the snake. Which, Sanji reflected, would actually be kind of the hot if Luffy was in his female form right now.

"Your mother was made into a pair of lady's shoes and you smell of elderberries! You couldn't bite through a tree, let alone eat me!" Luffy shouted. "Your breath stinks of carrion and those whiskers of your looks like they were borrowed from a catfish, you overgrown garden snake!"

The snake and everyone stared at Luffy for a moment. Then Hina and Sanji, from their perches in a large tree and in the air respectively, watched as the snake's eyes slowly started to glaze over in fury. In the next second, it had bunched up its coils and launched itself towards Luffy. Within seconds, it had crashed through the jungle after the retreating Luffy, who was pulling it further and further away from the rest of them and the way to the _Resolve_.

Sanji landed next to Hina and Nami, finishing one cigarette, throwing it away before tapping out his next one and putting it unlit in his mouth for a moment. He looked over at Nami, shook his head. "That really is a martial arts technique isn't it?"

"With Luffy it is. The guy has a positive talent at pissing people off," Nami said dryly. She then turned and took one last look at the cliff face where she had discovered the shack. Or rather, half of a shack and moreover a shack that looked awfully familiar. "Come on, let's get this show on the road and get back to the ship."

Now with the danger passed, Hina took stock of her crew and was thankful to see that all of her men were still alive. Twelve were down with various crippling wounds, the majority being from shrapnel sent flying as the snake blasted its way through trees. But despite that, none of them had been eaten, and after running into something like that snake, Hina would call that a win. _Hina will need to work on larger cage forms if she is to fight that thing again. A snake's body is too mobile, able to get traction on the ground too easily for me to pin it down. Or perhaps emplace a few larger handcuffs along its body, and then cages at either end?_

Shaking those thoughts off, Hina started to shout orders as Nami and Sanji started to move through the jungle towards their ship. Hina didn't particularly like the idea of placing herself and her crew at the pirate's mercy again, but it was better than trying to make their way on their own at this point.

 **OOOOOOO**

Luffy raced through the trees, pushing himself to not only dodge the snake but to do so without even looking at his pursuer. In fact, at one point he paused, leaped up onto a tree right above the snake, and as it coiled, pulled out a spare shirt that he always kept in his weapons energy space. And as the snake jumped up towards him, biting into and tearing the tree apart, Luffy flipped away, tearing off the sleeves of his shirt, then tied them together before winding them twice around his head to cover his eyes.

The python saw this, and actually seemed to pause, something that Luffy, now blind, could feel through his Kenbunshoku. "Just giving you a handicap," he quipped.

The snake hissed violently, the snake equivalent of a roar of fury, and given the python's size, it dwarfed any such sound from a normal animal causing the whole forest around them, even the sound of bugs, to still. Then it was after him again crashing down, biting through a tree, then another, its acid-like venom creating a purple miasma from where it bit into the trees. In this manner, it cleared a large segment of the forest, almost as if it was some huge logging machine.

But this was what Luffy had hoped for. Now within this free area, Luffy bounced again and again and again around the snake, trying to do all he could to perfect the idea of using Busoshoku, to feel out what his enemy was doing before he was doing it. He wasn't always successful and was smashed around, but he always got up before the snake could finish him off. And after about ten minutes, despite his bruises, Luffy could tell that he was beginning to make headway here, despite a headache growing in his mind with every passing moment _. Say what you will about Genma, but he was right about one thing: I learn best through combat, through doing rather than being told. I was told enough about how to use Kenbunshoku, now I just have to perfect it._

With that, he dropped down into the jungle floor and raced off, leaving the destroyed section of the forest behind, shouting "Catch me if you can, you overgrown worm!"

The snake hissed furiously, then smashed down into the smaller foliage underneath and went after him, winding its way around the trees, or through them if need be. The creature the locals called the Master of the Sky was a truly monstrous creature, and though the trees around it were probably older than the snake and many of them still bigger, none of them could withstand its powerful jaws or monstrous strength.

And through it all, Luffy's cheerful laughter and taunting could still be heard over the sound of crashing tree branches and the hiss of an angry python.

 **OOOOOOO**

Elsewhere on the island, the battle had been joined once more between the Shandians, and the priests of the Kami Enel. These were four men named Ohm, Satori, Gedatsu, and Shura. Each priest was in charge of a different ordeal and controlled a segment of the island. Indeed they were often in direct competition for attackers to toy with.

Shura was dead now, killed by Zoro earlier that day. But unfortunately, just because they were down one member, didn't seem to slow the remaining three down all. The warriors had numbers on their side, and a few of them had the special weapons that Laki had designed. But none of them had Mantra. All three of the priests did to varying degrees. They were strong, they were fast, they were experts in Sky Combat evolved well past what the Shandians practiced and all of them brought a special ability or skill to the fight.

Several warriors dashed towards Satori and realized this once more to their horror. He was a largish, round-shaped man, not obese, just round with maroon colored hair. He wore a full-body jumpsuit in white, making him look like the ball-shaped Cloud Balls that he used in his Ordeal, save for a vertical line of golden rings that rand down his chest and spine. He also wore an orange hat, which looked somewhat like Luffy's straw hat, orange gloves, shoes, and large, yellow sunglasses that completely blocked his eyes from being seen.

Despite Satori's roundness, he was quick on his feet, far more so than the Shandians he was facing. He dodged another way, egotistically calling out their attacks as he did. "Oh, you'll be going for my feet, not exactly an honorable thing for a warrior to do, while your friend goes for my chest. And the third will go for my head? Whatever is a jet stream attack anyway? Regardless," the Cloud Ball user said dancing through the attacks an open palm slamming into the face of the third Shandian warrior, "It failed. Impact."

The hit from the Impact Dial flung that man end over end, his face a bloody ruin. The other two turned, but Satori leaped away onto a floating ball nearby. "Ah, I wouldn't be near that if I were you~!"

The two of them twisted, then pushed themselves away rapidly realizing Satori had left another Cloud Ball behind. To their surprise though, only a brightly colored bird burst out of it, singing, "What the heck…"

"Rule one, never be distracted!" With that Satori landed on one of them, double Impacts slamming into the man's back, and snapping his spine. The other man turned, and Satori pointed with a cane, which had suddenly appeared in one hand at a Ball hovering by the man's shoulder. "Ah, wait, that one is actually dangerous."

Ignoring that, the man pushed the ball away from him, angrily charging forward, only for the ball to explode as if it was filled with TNT.

Elsewhere, six people had dropped into a swamp as they fought with Gedatsu, who was dancing in and around a dozen others, including two of the best warriors of the tribe, Kamakiri, and Braham. Gedatsu was a tall man, whose skin tone was a tad darker than Robin, with a hairstyle that looked like his hair had been styled to look like upwards facing tentacle. He wore a purple jacket and pants, black gloves and shoes with a pink shirt underneath the jacket, and a scarf around his neck.

"Your flashing attacks do not work on me!" he shouted, crossing his arms or seemingly attempting to. He couldn't quite seem to get it right, his hands sliding of one another since he had not bent them properly. "All of you will fall into the swamps created by my Milky Dials!"

Braham didn't reply, leaping away from the man's kicks pointing his guns at his face again. The flashes from his Flash Guns, one of Laki's first weapons should have blinded Gedatsu, and they did, the man blinking his eyes rapidly. Yet, he still dodged both the bullets accompanying those flashes and then rolled away from Kamakiri's perfectly timed attack with his spear. The two Shandians then had to dodge series of punches the speed of which would have taken most of their brethren out, pulling back after a second as more of their fellows attempted to fire their rifles at Gedatsu in turn.

It didn't work though, the man dodging or using small shields of cloud created by a Milky Dial, a Dial that allowed one to store various types of cloud and then expel them, to eat the bullets. The small, specially treated acorns that had been shaped to resemble bullets disappeared into the dark, faintly purple looking clouds. He then flung them forward before blasting in another direction via the two Jet Dials on his feet closing with several other warriors. They tried to pull back, but too late, and it was only Braham and Genbo, the obese warrior who used a normal bazooka, intervening that saved them.

For his part, Kamakiri had been pulled into the fight with the third and, arguably, the most dangerous priest, Ohm. Ohm was a tall, bald, bearded man with wide shoulders and a serious mien, who hid his eyes behind a pair of sunglasses. His right arm was covered with tattoos, with one on his wrist, resembling a bracelet. He always wore a dark-green sleeveless shirt and loose grey pants with many pockets along their length and a white sash around his waist to go with dark leather boots.

Like the other two, he wielded a technique built around that was not known on Skypiea, an Eisen Whip, a sword whose form – it's length, width, even shape - could change with a flick of the wrist. Laki had idly wondered at one point how finicky the weapon had to be to wield, but there was no doubt that Ohm used it like a master, and none of the Shandians had any idea how it was done.

Wyper had made straight for him, and so had Laki, as well as about ten other braves. Yet even surrounded, neither Ohm nor his dog Holy seemed bothered. Twisting this way and that on his perch on Holy's back, Ohm's Eisen Whip flashed one way, cutting the cannonball shot at him from Genbo before he joined the fight against Gedatsu, chuckling quietly even as he twitched aside from a bullet, flashing out his sword. "Eisen Whip!"

As that man fell nearly cleaved in two, Ohm continued his thoughts aloud. "Hmmph, What a waste of good Blue Sea iron! You should be ashamed, warrior of Shandia!"

"Anything is worth the price to reclaim our homeland!" Wyper shouted, getting in close and blasting an attack towards the sword user with his burn bazooka. "Burn Bazooka!" This created a flare of superheated air, heated so much it could sear through almost anything. But Ohm and Holy dodged it, Holy leaping aside at a slight touch of Ohm's heels. Then his sword was back to its normal size once more, slashing in with punishing force, making Wyper block it with his bazooka's shaft.

Then he leaped off of Holy's back to the left of the large dog at the last second as Laki fired right where his head would've been in a moment before from where she had been hiding right beside a bit of swamp on the ground beneath him. She then charged in, getting in under his guard, and bringing up the butt of her rifle, only to let it go as Ohm blocked it with one hand, pulling out twin pistols from behind her belt, which she discharged into his face. But he had already twisted around, grabbing the back of her head with his free hand having dropped her rifle, and tossed her away, to where she was nearly bitten in half by Holy.

She used her Breath Dial skates to get away, flipping around and moving away swiftly as she pulled in a thin wire that was connected to her rifle, which flipped into her hand. She unloaded it at the dog, but it dodged. _What the heck is with this thing anyway!? The priests I can understand, but what kind of insane training would a dog, no matter how large, have to do to get as strong as this thing!_

But during the time that the dog was busy with Wyper and Laki, the priest had turned away to deal with three others, slicing two of them almost in half as he had the first one a few minutes before. The third was no better off, being kicked into a swamp section below.

At that, Gedatsu looked up angrily. " _I don't need your help to claim kills, Ohm_!" Or, that was what he thought he was saying. In fact, he was thinking it, his mouth closed as he muttered into his lower lip.

"I'm not a telepath," Ohm drawled. "I can't tell what you're thinking unless you say it aloud, fool," Gedatsu gasped. "Ah, how careless!"

Then it was the sword user's turn to dodge, as Wyper was in his face, a kick nearly taking his head off. But he blocked the follow-up with the bazooka with his sword, grinning at Wyper. "Wyper, the greatest warrior of your tribe. Amusing! Unfortunately, you and several of your fellows have wandered into my territory, the trial of steel! The survival rate is 0%!"

At that statement, several dozen small traps went off to accompanying cries of agony from Wyper's fellow Shandians. These traps were simple hidden Dials called Steel Dials, which shot out what amounted to barbed wire. More than fifteen braves had fallen already to traps like these. Most of them would be able to get to their feet eventually, but a few, like Ohm's personal victims and a few that Gedatsu and Satori had fought, wouldn't.

However as the fight continued, first Ohm, then Satori, and finally even Gedatsu started to look a little concerned, turning to look in one direction occasionally.

Gedatsu actually took a hit to the side of the face from Braham, and he scowled angrily, turning around and launching a Jet Dialed punch that nearly took the gun wielder's head off.

"What the hell are you all looking at!?" Wyper shouted, getting in Ohm's face again, his hand trying to latch onto Ohm's shoulder to pin him in place, but not succeeding.

"All of you are so eager to die. And die for what, the ground underneath her feet, your so-called heritage? Heritage doesn't matter to the dead, and the weak should never try to imitate the strong," Ohm said, blocking that attempt and then gaining distance, his Mantra warning him of Wyper's other hand for some reason. _An impact Dial underneath those bandages? But a mere impact Dial wouldn't have caused my Mantra to shiver that much. Odd. But not important right now._

Whatever Wyper was going to say to that was left unsaid, as Ohm leaped up onto Holy and shouted "Holy, run!"

Nearby, Gedatsu was now using the Jet Dials on his feet and flying himself away, while Satori was also retreating.

"What in the…" Kamakiri began, before the question of the confused Shandians was answered when the Master of the Sky, the giant, monstrous snake that was the apex predator of the Holy Land, smashed into the battlefield. It seemed to be chasing a young Blue Sea dweller with dark black hair tied into a ponytail, wearing long, loose pants and a shirt.

In the darkening of the evening that was all that most could tell, but Wyper had seen that man before. He was one of the Blue Sea dwellers that Wyper had fought, the one that had hurt his shoulder so badly **.** "It's one of the Blue Sea dwellers, kill him!" Wyper shouted, twisting his bazooka around in that direction and letting fly with another blast of heated air.

His target dodged easily then flipped into the sky bouncing off nothing to the side standing in midair for a moment with no skates or anything else to support him. A second later, he twirled in place as bullets tried to hit him, seemingly dodging them with ease.

"And what the hell did I do to you to get this kind of welcome, you asshats?!" the Blue Sea dweller shouted, bouncing this way and that through several of the warriors who had obeyed Wyper's shout. A second later he grabbed one of the rifles, and slammed it back into the rifle owner's chest, hurling him backward. Then he was through them and racing on.

It was only now that Laki, who was nearby realized the man had a long black scarf or something around his eyes. _He's blind? No, he must be using Mantra! But, a Blue Sea dweller who can use Mantra?! That's impossible, even if he and the rest of the Blue Sea dwellers were able to beat Shura. But then, if they really are that strong…_ Shaking that thought off she raised her rifle, but the Blue Sea dweller put a large tree between him and the Shandians at that moment.

"I'm not your problem guys," he shouted happily, for many reasons. One, this let him get back at the bull-masked guy for his attempted attack on the _Resolve_. And second, training his Kenbunshoku was giving him the mother of all headaches and now that the snake was sure to be occupied, he could safely cut it out. "Well snake dude, you might not've gotten me, but at least I lead you to a feast right? No hard feelings!"

With that, Luffy was out the other side of the battlefield, leaving the idiot with the bazooka who had attacked his crew and the marines to fight the giant snake. _I'd guess they are the Shandians from Norland's tale, but that doesn't mean I'm going to be nice to them after that one asshole first attacked us and now's set the rest of his tribe on me_ , he thought.

A second later he paused on a branch to stare at the nearby Ohm. "You're not going to try to stop me?" Luffy asked, somewhat surprised. With his ability with Kenbunshoku Luffy could tell that the other two weren't going to attack him either, and he had to wonder why.

"You were the ones that beat Shura. Therefore, you passed our trial. If you're able to get out of Upper Yard, we will let you go. **If** you leave promptly," Ohm said calmly. Then his lips quirked just slightly into a cruel sneer. "Besides, this is a most amusing show."

His fellow priests might've had a different reason, considering that one of them, his body like a round ball, was now shrieking and retreating quickly as the snake seemed to ignore the Shandians to rumble through the battlefield in his direction. It ignored their attacks, the ball clouds, the Milky Dials on the ground, even the iron clouds to chase after him with single-minded purpose. "Dammit, I am not an odango!"

After a second just spent watching this sight, Luffy turned slightly and looked at a tree behind the Ohm, frowning before turning his still covered eyes towards Ohm. "You're strong," he said with a nod. "There's always a bigger fish though."

Ohm chuckled at that, shaking his head. "We have a phrase here. Though the world is vast, there is still only one Kami-sama. All will be cleansed of their sins in the end."

Luffy scowled at that, not liking how Ohm had said that last line. But he didn't say another word, simply turning and zipping away through the forest.

"He sensed your presence," Ohm said, turning slightly to look at the same tree Luffy had been looking at. "Are you sure that Enel-sama would not prefer I finish him now? While he is obviously not a threat towards Kami-sama, he could prove one to everyone else who follows him."

"And since when did Kami-sama ever concern himself with that?" said a deep baritone voice. Out from behind the tree there stood a large man, as large as even the three priests, wider and looking almost fat. But anyone who thought he was simply overweight, would learn the truth to their cost, a hint of this coming through at how light he was on his feet as he moved.

"True," Ohm said with a sigh. "I would still prefer to face him now, however. What better way to show my superiority than to defeat one of the crew that defeated Shura?"

The priest shrugged apathetically. "That is not your orders. For now, the Shandians seem to be retreating. Pull back, there is little that you or the other priests can do against the Master of the Sky after all. And Kami-sama has summoned you."

"Next time lead with that!" Ohm replied angrily, turning instantly on Holy and ordering the dog to race away through the forest. Gedatsu too followed instantly, while Satori had to distract the snake for a while with his Cloud Balls to cover his own escape.

Elsewhere, the Shandians were indeed in retreat. Many of them were wounded, and those who weren't were carrying braves who were, bar Laki, who was covering their back route. "I don't get it," she said angrily. "The Master of the Sky never bothers us with when we're fighting the priests like that."

"That Blue Sea dweller led it right to us! Do you think it was on purpose? He was certainly happy enough to use us as a distraction to get away from him," Kamakiri stated.

"I don't know. I saw he was wearing a blindfold of some kind, and still dodged both the Master of the Sky and us. He must have been using Mantra. Luckily for us, he doesn't seem to be on the side of the priests and Kami-sama either, he and his crew are just on their own side," Laki replied.

"So that means we have two types of enemies rather than one," Wyper growled.

"Maybe, but it also means the priests have another group of enemies too. One that's already proven deadly to them," Laki said with a shrug.

"We have to pull back for now," Braham said, gesturing around at the wounded. They'd been able to grab them all from the ground as the Master of the Sky was rampaging towards Satori but they all needed treatment. "We have to get them healed up or send them back."

"We send them back. And then we continue," Wyper said definitively. "We all noticed that the priests were not nearly as tough this time around. Without Shura, they can be overcome eventually."

"Are you sure?" Laki asked. "I'd rather pulled back entirely and wait for the Blue Sea dwellers and the priests to clash again. The Blue Sea dwellers already took out one, who's to say they can't do more?"

"And let them fight our battles for us!? No, if we let them do that, they'll simply take Shandora for themselves. And then there's Kami to be considered." For all his anger and rage, Wyper wasn't a total berserker, and he knew what kind of power the new Kami, the one who had taken over four years ago, wielded. He also knew there was no way a Blue Sea dweller could fight it. _No, only I can beat him, with my little ace in the hole._

"No, we will attack again tonight. And we will keep attacking until they are dead, or we are!" Wyper growled. "This is total war Laki, if you think it is anything different, put that thought out of your head now! If you do not have the strength of will to continue, you're not a warrior but a liability."

Laki grit her teeth, but Kamakiri stood up from where he had been bandaging a wounded warrior, nodding towards Wyper. "He's right. If we want to reclaim our lands, we have to go all-in, now when the opponents of already been weakened by the Blue Sea dwellers. This is our best opportunity; we have to take it."

The other warriors all roared their agreement, even some of their wounded, and Laki sighed, shaking her head. She agreed with them in a way, but the unthinking aggression of Wyper was worrisome. _I just hope he's right about that little trick he had me put in his Skate Dial working on Kami. Or else we're all going to pay for it._ "In that case, anyone who wants their weapon repaired better get over here now. We can't continue this fight without our weapons all working as best they can."

 **OOOOOOO**

Ranma and his crew were not the only people having adventures that day. Back down on the Blue Sea, a certain group of pirates, which had attempted to dog the Straw Hats ship had reached their third island in the Grand Line.

Buggy laughed, throwing his arms up in the air as he partied hearty. His crew had finally gotten to where his hoarded Log Pose could latch onto an island's magnetic field, letting them start off onto one of the routes through the Grand Line.

While his second island had been a rocky bit of nothing, the first stop had gone decently, his crew had arrived, pillaged a bit – in particular gorging themselves on food and drink after so long at sea in the Calm Belt - and then headed back to sea with their with the _Big Top_ filled with vittles that were not fish. His two strongest crewmen, his first mate Alvida, and his gunnery officer Usopp had proven their effectiveness. Alvida was brutal, smashing men and women left and right while they, in turn, stopped to stare at her beauty, hearts in their eyes.

Usopp was different. He didn't seem to be as into the whole pillaging thing, as Buggy would have liked someone from his crew to be. But when a small group of Marines tried to make trouble for them, Usopp had stepped up his game, taking out the whole group of them with his long-range sniping.

He also had a good deal of self-preservation instincts, which Buggy was happy to see, having run from the marines until he found a cul-de-sac in the city's streets, then raining firing on them from the rooftops. Even above his dream of finding all of the world's treasures, Buggy longed to be able to live a simple, quiet pirate life, never making waves and attracting more trouble than he could deal with, and Usopp, for all his dream of being a brave warrior of the sea, seemed to be built in the same mold.

 _And I'll get right back to that, retreat to the East Blue where there's no one strong enough to challenge me just as soon as the Pirate Hunter and Red-hair Ranko dies._ That was his reason for coming to the Grand Line after all. He wanted to hunt down Zoro and Ranko and knew they were part of the Straw Hat crew. After that, his crew would keep going to the Red Line, then break off through one of the normal means to get out into East Blue.

 _Until then though, I might as well pillage and search for treasures as much as I can! While also staying away from any marines or stronger pirates!_ So thinking he laughed shaking fans in his hand as nearby Usopp balanced a plate on a stick in his mouth while dancing. "Kahahaha, that's right boys, party, dance, celebrate! We've survived to our third island, and there're people there too! Soon we'll be able to fill our bellies and murder our livers to our heart's content once more!"

"Yaaay Captain Buggy-sama!" his crew shouted in reply.

Yet even as he danced around, Buggy kept an eye out on two of the three crew he still had on duty. One was at the tiller, the other was taking soundings forward, speaking to one another via a long metal tube so they could be heard over the party taking place in the center of the _Big Top_ 's main deck. This was unknown waters after all, and even with the island in sight, Buggy wasn't going to let them run aground on any reefs or anything else. That was why a third crewman was up in the crow's nest.

Another crewmember wasn't taking part in the party on her own decision though. Alvida was laid out to one side of the party on a lounge chair, dressed in her normal semi-bikini look, reading from a newspaper. She wasn't much of a heavy partier like Buggy and the rest of his mixed crew, but she had other qualities and was currently giving them all an eyeful of them. Right now though she had just pulled her glasses down to stare incredulously at the paper in front of her. "What in the heck… Buggy, you might want to look at these new bounty posters."

"Eh? Are they talking about Buggy and his magnificent crew some more?" Buggy asked, laughing and joking before he was beside her, then he drooped down, talking in a quieter tone. "Why? don't tell me our bounties went up again! It was just a measly forty marine. Surely that's not enough to raise my bounty."

Unlike the rest of the crew, Usopp and Alvida had a decent idea of Buggy's real personality beyond the party animal who lusted for treasure. They knew he was actually a more cautious sort of pirate than you would otherwise think, so he could be more open with his concerns on that score with them.

"Not quite. Not yours anyway, mine went up by another seven million to twelve million. Usopp!" the goofy sharpshooter turned at her shout and caught the paper airplane she tossed his way. "You have a bounty now, congratulations."

Buggy's head disconnected from the rest of his body, moving over to stare over Usopp's shoulder. "Four million my boy, pretty good for a first-timer!"

At that Usopp came out of his momentary stupor, started laughing wildly, putting his hands behind his head as he bellowed, "Oh yes! The dawn of Captain Usopp has come boys!"

"What do you mean Captain!?" Buggy shouted in return getting into his face, while the rest of the crew laughed.

With a last mock growl Buggy pulled away from the youngster, his head floating back to his body where it had lazed out on another lounge chair next to Alvida. "Anything else?" he asked as his head landed on his neck.

"Mhmm. Roronoa's bounty went up big time, and so did his captain's. Ranko still doesn't have a bounty though, maybe they really did split up," Alvida said, frowning thoughtfully. "They've got two women on board their ship, but neither of them matches Ranko. The green-haired one looks a bit familiar to me, but I can't quite place her."

Looking over the bounties she handed him, Buggy could only shake his head. "How in the world did those brats get this big a bounty jump? And you're right, the fact Ranko doesn't have a bounty is weird." He scowled, shaking his head. "Well, whatever, Zoro's still a target. And no matter how strong you are, you can always be taken by surprise. That's the reason why Usopp and I have been building up a surplus of Buggy Balls after all."

Alvida nodded, then smirked as Buggy's arm slid off and to the side without her having to do anything. "You know that won't work," she said, smirking a little.

"Can't blame a fella for trying," Buggy retorted.

Alvida chuckled even as she rolled her eyes behind her glasses. While Buggy had proven to be a surprisingly good captain, able to motivate his men, keep them from despairing or mutinying and very knowledgeable of the Grand Line, he definitely wasn't her type. And even if he was, with the Sube Sube Devil Fruit it wasn't as if his hands could actually stay on her long enough for her to feel anything. Alvida's fruit had not only made her skin too smooth for anything but her own clothing to stay in contact with, but it had also deadened her body's sense of touch and even pain to a large degree.

Even with the disappointment of once more failing to touch Alvida, Buggy could only grin at his crew as they continued to party in thanks for reaching their third Grand Line Island. Life was starting to go his way again at last. _Yes, we're on the Grand Line a lot sooner than I wanted, and the crew's not really been reacting well to the trials here. But, all the world's treasures eventually do show up here in the Grand Line. I just have to start searching for them here sooner than I expected. I've got a freaking hottie as my first mate even if I can't actually touch her. I've got the son of the greatest sharpshooter in the world, who seems to have the skill to rise to that same level. And I've successfully welded two different crews into one, and they are slowly getting used to the Grand Line. Yes, perhaps my luck has finally changed._

Just as he thought that however, a voice shouted from the crow's nest. "Sail ho! We've got a ship incoming from behind us, and… their flag looks weird captain."

Buggy scowled, grumbling angrily under his breath as he stood up. "Why can't everything go flashily smoothly for me just once, just once!" with that, Buggy's head popped off his neck once more, floating up towards the crow's nest and by the time his head arrived there, he had conquered his bad mood enough to fool his crew. "Really Thomas, this is the Grand Line, you should be prepared to see the weird things at least twice a day, possibly as many as four times. Or are you forgetting that giant freaking goldfish that nearly ate us a few days ago or the dolphin that chased off a Sea King?"

"Well it's not strange like that Captain, it's just, it looks almost like a Marine ship but not quite."

Buggy scowled and landed his head next to the man turning in the direction he was facing. "Spyglass," he ordered.

The man held the spyglass in front of Buggy's eye obligingly, and the clown captain stared through it at the incoming ship, which had just come over the horizon to their southwest. 'Good eyes Thomas," Buggy praised, before ignoring the man's thanks as he concentrated on what he was seeing.

It did indeed look like a Marine ship, a brigantine to be exact. It was an older type of vessel, its size between that of a galleon and a frigate, or schooner-rigged vessel. Thanks to its sail plan it had something of the speed of schooner, but it sacrificed guns for speed just like the schooner did. What guns it did have were heavier than on a marine frigate, but it had two decks fewer of them than a galleon. It was a plan, which had been thought up several years ago as a method to build a lot of Marine ships quickly when they had far more crews then ships. Buggy was aware of them, having seen several of them in his younger years with Gol D. Roger's crew, and knew they were a crew-intensive rig, just like his _Big Top_.

But the marine marks on the ship were crossed out, with the giant red mark going over each of them, and the marine flag had been replaced on the mainmast but left in place for the other two masts. On those two flags, the word justice had been completely covered over by a black mark, with regular skull and crossbones placed above it.

On the mainmast, both the sails and the crew's Jolly Roger were very different. This mark was two swords crossed like the regular crossbones would in the background, and the foreground was a strange design, a central spear-like design with points at both ends from which flowed two pairs of wings, one larger than the other curling out at the bottom.

"I think we're dealing with ex-marine pirates Thomas," Buggy said with a laugh. "Let's see if we can warn them away for their own good." With that, he raised his voice. "Usopp, we have an enemy ship incoming south, southeast, it'll be just coming over the horizon in about twenty minutes from below. Prepare to put a warning shot across their bows, and then load with Buggy Balls."

The _Big Top_ , like its predecessor, was, despite the fact that it was a galleon, not really made to duke it out with other ships at long range. It was too top-heavy and built more to take heavy seas then combat or speed. But that's what Buggy had the Buggy Balls for.

Buggy's head was still up in the crow's nest watching about a half-hour later, near to his prediction, when the enemy Brigantine and the _Big Top_ came within sight of one another from their main decks.

Almost instantly, one of the cannons from the _Big Top_ roared, and a second later, the sea in front of the incoming Ex-marine ship exploded blowing water right into their prow, which was a maiden with a blindfold on holding two swords. The water drenched the prow from top to bottom, but the enemy ship continued to come towards them, and Buggy scowled.

"Maybe we're both heading for the same place, Captain," Thomas said.

"Could be, still, I don't want to fight fellow pirates unless I have to. There's normally never enough profit in it." With that, Buggy's head hopped off its perch and dropped down towards where its body had been lounging still clothed in its stripe suit, on a lounge chair next to Alvida.

"We'll head off to Northwest," he ordered his crew, who had, during the past hour, put away the vittles and the party favors. "No point in fighting other pirates unless they've got treasure aboard boys, and we don't know what these rapscallions have on them. But prepare a full broadside just in case they want to pick a fight with us. If they do, we'll make it the last bad choice in their lives. Right?!"

"Aye, aye, Captain Buggy!" the crew cheered then went about their business while Buggy leaned over to Alvida. "Ex-marine Brigantine, we don't want to fight that if we can avoid it, but hopefully if we can't, my Buggy Balls will seal the deal."

"And if it doesn't? We need food and freshwater most of all. We can't afford to let this guy scare us off," Alvida warned.

"True," Buggy said with a scowl, looking around the crew. _And I still can't afford to show weakness in front of my crew even now, not after all the mishaps we ran into to even get into the Grand Line. My bravado is the only thing keeping us all together. Bar Alvida and Usopp maybe._

At first, this move seemed to work, the Brigantine backing off and slowing down, turning towards the distant island. But when the _Big Top_ moved around a jutting outcrop of the island, the Buggy Pirates lost track of the ship. And, just as they were about to enter the small port the island's locals had created, the enemy ship came up at them from behind at full sail. And Thomas's successor on duty in the crow's nest wasn't nearly as good at looking behind them than he should have been.

The ex-marine ship got behind the _Big Top_ and before Buggy or his crew could turn the ship away, began to fire into them. And like every other ship, the _Big Top_ didn't have any guns facing directly aft.

The enemy pirate ship raked the aft of the _Big Top_ with solid shot and canister, slamming several dozen cannonballs into the aft of the ship shattering while other cannons aimed down the length of the _Big Top_. The canister and the shrapnel started to wreak its horrible toll and men screamed they went down. Shrapnel from the wood of the ship exploding was hardly any better than the buckshot, and Buggy lost about twenty men in that first fusillade.

"Bring us about! Alvida get on the tiller and Bring us about!" With her Supe Supe fruit, Alvida was pretty much immune to shrapnel or buckshot attacks like the kind raking the back of the _Big Top_. "Usopp you're in charge of our guns!"

Usopp had seen the ship coming in just enough time to shout a warning and then had dived behind the mainmast, hoping to use it as a shield and crying out in shock at his first real taste of ship to ship combat. But now he looked up and seeing Alvida and Buggy standing in the face of this carnage he stood up on shaking knees and saluted quickly. "Yes, Captain!"

"Get below and take command of our guns, fire as you care and use our Buggy Balls! We need to do some damage to that ship. The rest of you grab up muskets and get to shooting. "I'm going to board that ship!"

With that, Buggy leaped into the air, leaving his feet behind and heading to a special air cannon, the likes of which could be found in a real circus, set into the deck. There was one of these set both towards the prow and another towards the aft end of the ship which could be turned to face anywhere at a two-hundred and seventy-degree angle. After turning it around, Buggy aimed it towards the attack ship, which was firing again now and then lit the fuse on the cannon before hopping into the cannon itself.

The air cannon blasted him out towards the ship in parts, and Buggy heard the cries of shock and dismay at being attacked by the body parts of a madman, or so they thought. Before anyone over there could get them organized to take him under direct fire Buggy's parts were descending towards the enemy ship, which he saw was called the _Truthseeker_ of all things. Ignoring that, he pulled his body together and landed in among the enemy pirates, his hands full of daggers, which flung in every direction before pulling out still more. "You picked a fight with the wrong flashy clown, fools!"

He killed twelve of their men before he was stopped by a man who had to be their captain. He was dressed somewhat like a marine, a white-plumed cocked hat with his crew's Jolly Roger on the side and a mask over his eyes with red-brown hair and long sideburns. On his broad chin, he had an X shaped scar matching a tattoo of a far larger X on his chest. He wore knee-high boots and gloves that rose to his elbows each of which had armor where they ended, leather pants and shirt. A belt with a large ornately designed circular belt buckle finished the appearance.

"Buggy the clown, I presume. You've got quite a bounty on you for someone so new to the Grand Line. I wonder why that is," the man said, his tone showing no sign of the strain of striving against Buggy strength for strength. "Captain Red Flag Drake at your service."

Buggy scoffed even as he sweated to push the other man sword away, thankful that he couldn't just be blown backward off the ship as he hovered there. For some reason, so long as he willed it, and his feet were on the ground, Buggy could move like he had good footing under him. "Bah, shows what you know! I might have left the Grand Line, but I grew up here in my youth as a pirate. I've been sailing this sea long before you were sucking at your mommy's tit!"

That light jibe seemed to strike home, and Drake disengaged their lock for a moment, before his sword stabbed in, a short-hafted axe in his other hand also now coming into action. Both weapons gave him a better range than Buggy's knives, but Buggy too also used a weapon in each hand, and as Drake's ship fired again into the _Big Top_ the two of them exchanged blows for a time. But each time the other man's weapons got closer to tagging Buggy, who grimaced. The man was good!

But Buggy wasn't the only offense the _Big Top_ had, and his assault onto the deck of the enemy pirate ship had pulled a lot of Drake's attention away from finishing off the horribly wounded _Big Top_. As they had been fighting, the _Big Top_ was still coming around and now shots began to slam into the ex-Marine ship, each of them hitting with the force of several cannonballs at once thanks to the Buggy Balls.

And all of them were aimed by Usopp, hitting right at or just above the waterline. Instantly as the ship shuddered under the dueling captains there was a shout from below and a crewman raced out of the bowels of the ship. "Captain, we're taking on water from below, that last shot, it's driven in our side for more than a yard to a side!"

The captain grimaced but didn't move away from Buggy, instead of pressing him hard, trying to get in a cut of slash. "See to it then, I'm busy. Pull us around, open the rangeEE!"

Drake broke off as Buggy's dagger scored a hit across his cheek and neck, Buggy having been carrying two daggers in that hand at the time. 'Khahahah, what were you paying attention to fool!"

In reply though, Drake's sword sliced through Buggy's arm. Or so Drake had anticipated. Instead, Buggy shouted Bara Bara Emergency Escape!"

Drake's sword passed through Buggy's body, not hitting anything as Buggy's parts fell away or flew above Drake's sword. "You can't kill me with a sword, I'm a parts man!"

Three more shots now followed the first group of shots in quick succession seemingly to echo his words and a whale from below. "We can't stop it, we're taking on too much water, the ships going down!"

Buggy cackled and floated back into the air, thankful beyond measure that the two ships were close enough for him to use his levitation ability without putting his feet in danger. "Farewell idiot! I'd say you'll remember this time when you got beaten by Buggy and his crew, but since you'll be dying soon that won't matter!"

With that, Buggy's main body began to move back towards his own ship. Normally a pirate captain would stay and finish the fight, but Buggy wasn't so vainglorious is all that, and didn't care so much about the pirate code.

"And you should know, the ex-commodore Drake isn't so easily beaten!" With that, the man hopped into the air, using Geppo to close the distance and attack once more with his sword.

This caused Buggy to squeal in surprise before he laughed, and came apart again, dodging the man's sword. "Damn it, what is with everyone I run into knowing that damn technique! Still, it will take more than that to beat the flashy me!" With that Buggy separated his hands lengthwise, letting each portion keep control of a dagger. "Bara-Bara Swarm!" he shouted, throwing his legs forward at the same time. The pieces of his legs each flashed forward like so many kicks, while the pieces of his hands wound around, coming at Drake from multiple angles. _Let's see him escape this!_

Buggy's head and main body continued to fly back out of range, but then he stopped, watching as Drake scowled, and started to concentrate. His arm and axe turned black for a moment in a move Buggy had last seen Silvers Rayleigh and Gol D. Roger use years ago. His eyes widened to comical proportions as he watched the black of Busoshoku trying to crawl up Drake's sword as well, but then fading. It was evident that Drake didn't have enough mastery of the technique to cover a larger weapon and the arm holding it with the Armor of Will.

Despite that, Drake still lashed out. "Die Buggy. You may have sunk my ship, but I'll have yours in recompense."

Desperately Buggy evaded the attack, pulling his body parts back, yet the now-black axe still struck, slicing through one of Buggy's parts, his upper thigh, even as he tried to make the part separate again in order to dodge. Buggy cried out in pain, yet he still kept in control, lashing out still with his blades. Three of them shattered on Drake's Busoshoku, while one got through, stabbing slightly into the other captain's side. Buggy's other parts still hit causing bruises all across Drake's lower body, which had not been armored.

Drake grimaced but that let Buggy bring his hands together again and rearm them with further daggers, the last of them from his hidden bandoleer on his back under his cloak. Then Drake was on him again, and the two clashed. Now however it was becoming very one-sided, with Buggy falling back, his daggers shattering each time they met Drake's forearm or axe, although Buggy could see Drake's Busoshoku fading quickly.

"Great!" Drake shouted, bringing around his ax again, only for Buggy to dodge that blow and the follow on a slash from Drake's sword, which had thrust to his side, his parts power once more proving its worth. This time though Buggy had plummeted downwards, giving up the height advantage. This caused Drake to pause just as a giant iron club, larger and wider than he was, sailed through the air towards him. While he batted it away easily, the iron club took his attention for just a second, and that was enough.

Buggy's arms were shot out again and then behind him, stabbing down into his back, which was now unarmored, taking him right between his shoulders and stabbing deep. Drake grunted in agony, blood bursting from his mouth as his Geppo technique cut out. The next second Buggy pulled his daggers out and Drake's dying body plummeted down to the ocean depths below.

Shakily, Buggy breathed a sigh of relief and made a note to plunder something nice for Alvida in the near future, clutching his returned hands to his wounded thigh and chest, growling angrily _. I seriously need to figure out a way to learn some Busoshoku of my own! Maybe I can find Rayleigh, I know he could teach me. The only question is would he want to?_

Setting that aside, Buggy moved back to his ship, where he was met with cheers as he landed on his feet, which had remained on the ship as he had been flying around. Usopp, who must have come back on deck after the other pirate ship starting sinking, started a chant. "Three cheers for Captain Buggy, he showed that ex-Marine what for!"

Buggy laughed wildly, throwing his hands into the air knowing now that his crew had finally gotten over their Grand Line jitters, and any talk about turning back or mutinying when they next had trouble would fall by the wayside. Shaking that thought and the adoration of the crowd off, he moved to sit by Alvida on the second lounge chair shouting, "Get the doctor up here, I've got a wound in my side and thigh that I need seeing to."

Hours later, much of the crew were still partying hearty on the beach, with several dozen of the locals forced into serving them food and drink. Laying out next to Buggy and being waited on herself by the mayor of the town, who had hearts in his eyes as he looked at her, Alvida shook her head at the crew's antics. You'd think they were the ones that won the fight instead of you and Usopp."

"Usopp, me, and your club my dear," Buggy said suavely moving to put a hand over her, only to watch as it slid off.

Alvida rolled her eyes at Buggy's attempt at flirting then looked up as the foraging party they had set out into the town came back, her eyes narrowed. "Huh, I wonder what they found. That was awfully quick."

"Hmmph, it better be some kind of flashy treasure, or I know who I'll be sending down to see what can be found in the ruins of Drake's ship," Buggy growled.

"Hey captain," said one of Buggy's crew, one of his original crew who had been transported to the same marine base as him after his capture. "You would not believe this! Do you remember telling us about how your Devil Fruit looked like? All those swirls and stuff, being bigger and just plain weirder than any normal apple?"

"Yeah what…" Buggy sat up abruptly, staring at the man as Alvida did the same. "Wait, are you saying…"

"We found one! We found a Devil Fruit! It was being kept in the town bank's vault."

Buggy's eyes gleamed, as he stared down at the Devil Fruit then over at Alvida, and finally over to Usopp. _Maybe, just maybe, my luck really is starting to change._

 **OOOOOOO**

By the time Luffy made his way back to the _Resolve_ , the sun was well over the yardarm, but he was surprised to discover that the Marines had seemingly just arrived. _Huh, something to remember, moving through the air is a hell of a lot fast than on foot._ He could hear the shout of Chopper as he came closer, shouting, "Oh my god, there are so many wounded, doctor, doctor, we need a, oh wait, that's me."

While most of the marines were lying about in the tall grass by the ship, gasping and looking altogether beaten, Zoro and Hina were having a stare-down. As Ranma descended, Chopper leaped over the side of the ship to land in the grass, transforming into his Heavy Point and moving around the wounded, checking them over quickly.

"Zoro," Luffy said, alighting next to the man on the railing next to them. Once down he pulled off his blindfold and began to blink rapidly, touching his forehead and temples gingerly. That had hurt, a lot. The headache he'd felt building before he reached Sanji and the others had bloomed into a full-grown migraine by the time he was moving away from the warzone between the priests and Shandians. It had seemed to heighten faster the more people he was trying to keep track of. Thankfully the migraine had faded back to normal levels on the way back to his ship to where it was just a dull throbbing now.

Zoro nodded back, then gestured with his head towards the doorway leading into the ship. The Love Cook's inside, Chopper saw to him first. He and the witch beat the marines here by a good forty minutes. Nami's down there with her maps for some reason."

Luffy nodded and smirked as a series of hands appeared, tossing his hat back down to him from where Robin was up in the crow's nest. He caught it, then put it on his head before he looked over at Hina, who smirked back at him. Some things were universal, and that included that one captain could not board another captain's ship in time of peace between them without the permission of the captain of the ship.

"Permission to come aboard?" she asked formally, actually saluting.

Luffy rolled his eyes at the salute, but still returned it with a crisp salute of his own. "Do I have your word that you and your crew mean no harm to any aboard? Do I have your word that you will continue our treaty of nonaggression until both our crews are back down on the Grand Line?"

"You do," Hina said formally.

"Then we have an agreement." They both broke the salute and shook hands before Luffy nodded towards her Marines. "Get them aboard." With that, he turned away and started to shout orders. "Chopper, get the wounded aboard, I'll send Sanji and Makino out to help you. I want us gone and under some cover in the forest as soon as possible. We're way to open out here, especially given what I just ran into."

"And what did you run into?" Hina and Zoro asked as one, before looking at one another, then away.

"Trouble of course," Luffy said with a flash of teeth that could have been called a smile, but there was little humor in it. "I think that we need to get going, and set up a campsite before we start exchanging information."

Soon enough, the rest of the pirate crew were up on the deck, and Luffy started to issue orders. "Nami, you take the tiller. Not that you need to do much in this river of ours, but still best to have someone there. Makino, Sanji, you help Chopper with the wounded. Zoro, get on the sails. Robin," he shouted, up to the woman who hadn't moved, but whose ears had appeared nearby when he began to relay orders, "stay right where you are. But keep an eye out above you as well."

As Hina moved back down towards her crew, Luffy looked at his own crew seriously. "Remember what we were doing before when the Marines were aboard. They don't go inside our ship, not for **any** reason. We might have a truce with them, but that doesn't mean they won't sell out our secrets to their superiors when were back down on the Blue Sea."

Nami nodded sharply at that, while Zoro grunted, and Sanji sighed. "Oh, to so malign Hina-swan, it is hurtful, yet…" he shrugged. "Such is often the case when duty, honor, and war."

It took them about ten minutes to get all the Marines on board since more than half of the Marines had been badly banged up during the giant snake's attack and the remainder had pushed themselves hard to get their friends to the _Resolve_ through the jungle. It then took them about another hour to get the ship from where it had been into the forest. The river had picked up speed quite quickly after they turned a small band and headed near to straight down, carrying them back down to what Ranma thought of as the natural floor of the jungle.

While the rest of his crew was working on that though, Luffy sat on top of the prow, frowning as he tried to concentrate again on his Kenbunshoku technique once more. It wasn't easy, and he could feel the headache from earlier coming back, but he persisted until he finally had a decent idea of the lay of the land. There weren't any enemies that he could sense, although there were a lot of animals, many of them were reading as dangerous but that was to be expected in a jungle such as this. But that was good enough and he gasped lightly, shaking his head as he let the technique go, raising one hand to his forehead.

 _Good, at least that means we won't be under threat tonight. No way am I letting any of my crew move around this jungle at night, not without a damn good reason._

Once on the floor of the jungle – the floor made of actual dirt and stone rather than the large chunks held up to make different layers to the island by Island Cloud - Luffy let the ship continue into the forest for a time, until they came upon a small bend in the river, where he ordered Zoro to drop anchor. "All Marines ashore!" he shouted, looking at Hina, who nodded her head slightly.

That kind of order was one he could give as the ship's captain without it needing to come through her, and she wasn't going to argue. "Sanji, see if you can fish up any of those White Sea Sharks, those are good eating. Zoro, get to cutting," he ordered, gesturing out into the jungle.

"We're going to make camp as soon as we're in among the trees. Chopper, keep seeing to the wounded among the Marines. And if you see any medicinal plants around, feel free to gather them up. You Marines," he looked at the marines who were moving ashore already at his shout, then sighed, shaking his head as if he'd just seen the saddest thing he could think of. "I suppose you all can do whatever the hell you want. You're not my problem."

"Hey!" shouted more than one voice, while Hina actually had to bite down her cigarette to keep from chuckling. It wasn't the most diplomatic way of saying that they weren't part of his crew, and therefore had to fend for themselves beyond food and medical attention, but she understood it.

"What exactly are we doing?" Nami asked. "Shouldn't we trying to, you know, escape!?"

"No," Luffy said shaking his head and looking at her. Yes, he decided, it was time for crewmate intervention number two. _Or should that be number three, given how I forced Zoro to admit that he has no sense of direction before we hit Jaya?_ Regardless, as the rest of the crew hopped to, Luffy looked over at Nami. "Nami come with me. We need to talk."

 _That didn't sound good_ , Nami thought, but she still followed her Captain up onto the ship then down into the bowels of the ship, into the room he used as his own quarters. It was smaller than most such, considering the fact that the original captain's quarters had been made into their dining room. This was simply a partitioned area of the crew quarters, but it was about as close to private as they could get.

He sat down across from her, leaning against the wall, as he looked at Nami.

"If this is about my showing common sense," Nami began trying to go on the offensive.

But Luffy didn't let her. "What part about making a map of the world has anything to do with common sense?" he asked sharply interrupting her and sending her stumbling back metaphorically.

"What? What's that…"

"I said, what is so common sense about wanting to make a map of the world? That is your dream, isn't it? Or was that just a lie?" Luffy asked, his voice still sharp.

"How dare you!" Nami shouted, standing up and getting in Luffy's face but Luffy didn't budge simply looking back at her.

"The whole world," he intoned sarcastically. "That's your dream, right? So if you come to an island and the inhabitants are unfriendly, does that mean you'll just go 'oh, I'm sorry' and leave? Or if you come to an island that the World Government doesn't want on any map but it's own, will that mean you just up and leave, pretend you were never there? What about one a Yonko don't want you around? Or other dangerous pirate types? Are you going to let danger keep you from your dream?"

Nami scowled, looking away but she couldn't argue with the fact those words that hit home hard. "I, I don't… I'm not like you!" she finally shouted back, both angry and rather ashamed. I'm not strong like the rest of the crew, I weak! I'm weaker than Chopper, I've never… that is all my life, I've survived by running, running and hiding and lying and, that's all I'm good at," she said, looking away now, unable to take Luffy looking at her any longer.

"You faced down Miss Double-finger in Alabasta. You helped fight Basil Hawkins' crew. You helped fight that idiot hippo and his band of fools. Just because you're not as monstrously strong as the rest of us doesn't make you weak," Luffy said in a far gentler tone. Then he leaned forward and grabbed her by the shoulders. "And just because you're weak doesn't matter if the rest the crew is strong!" he nearly shouted the words in her face shaking her hard. "That's what it means to be Nakama!"

Nami looked at Luffy in shock. This was the first time Luffy had raised his voice at her as far as she could remember, outside of shouted commands in battle anyway or during storms at sea.

"You need to learn to rely on us more. You need to learn that running away isn't the solution. It might be **a** solution, but it isn't one that myself or anyone else on this crew is willing to take as the **first** one when we run into something," Luffy sighed, releasing her shoulders only to grab Nami's elbows as her knees went out from under her. He sighed and turned sideways to set her down on his bed, moving around to kneel in front of her so they were face to face.

"Nami, I like you. Your fiery, intelligent, you know what you want, you're not afraid to argue with anyone on the crew, and you dream big. But you don't take your training as seriously as you should now that you've mastered Kami-e. You could be a good deal stronger than you are if you were willing to put in the effort. And you really need to learn to rely on us all, to remember that it's not just your own strength you have to think about, but it is the strength of all of us."

Luffy shook his head. "I'll freely admit that I would probably run from one of the three major admirals, or Kaido and Big Mom at this point. But eventually, that's not going to be the case. Get it into your skull now that we **will** be picking fights with people like that, that we **will** win because that is what it means to be the Pirate King and his crew. To be the strongest on the ocean, to be the freest to let no bounds keep us from our dreams. And that includes yours, which, in a way, might be the biggest among the crew. After all, we're only on one of seven routes through the Grand Line now. We'll have to keep on going, do all seven to complete your map. And maybe even then we'll find it isn't enough."

Nami slowly nodded, looking away. "Does that mean, does that mean that you're really going to be fighting this God character?"

"Probably," Luffy said with a nod. "We'll see how that goes. But you heard Robin, she wants to see the city of gold, and I saw your eyes glow with the very idea earlier. So are you with us? Or should I ask Hina if she wants a new navigator?"

Nami scowled and stood up, pushing Luffy hard as he too stood up. "I'm your navigator! Don't you dare talk like that!"

"Does that mean you're going to act like it?" Luffy said softly.

Nami scowled and looked away. "I'll try Captain, but the instincts of a lifetime, they're not that easy to overcome."

"All I ask is that you try. And that you remember that you can rely on the rest of the crew," Luffy said with a nod. With that, he turned and left Nami there to think.

Outside, Ranma blinked, staring at where Sanji was standing to one side of the _Resolve_ , a large fishing pole stuck over the side. Not only did Ranma have to wonder about where the fishing pole had come from, but he also had to question how the heck Sanji had talked Chopper into letting himself be tied to the pole by a fishing line.

As Ranma watched, Sanji flicked the lure away, then lashed out with a kick, smashing a Sky shark out of the air to land on the shore. Four marines led by Fullbody jumped on it, daggers flashing into the shark's gills then rode the shark, their whoops reaching Ranma's ears from where he stood. On the ground nearby were the carcasses of six more sharks.

"You bastard, I am not a freaking lure!" Chopper roared breaking the rope and then grabbing the side of the ship before launching a full-body haymaker towards Sanji. The cook took it right in the chest not having gotten both feet under him just yet and was flung back to slam into one of the masts.

Huffing the doctor moved back towards the plank leading down to the shore, growling over his shoulder, "And you better hope it'll be a long while before you need me to treat you Sanji! You think you're all that because you're a cook, hah! Just wait until you find out what a pissed off doctor can do!"

"Why'd you put up with it for so long?" Ranma asked as he followed Chopper ashore.

"Ugh, the marines were cheering so much that by the time I realized what was happening the first shark was trying to eat me. And then they kept cheering!"

"I think ya need to build up more of an immunity to peer pressure Chopper."

"No duh!" Chopper barked back, shrinking as he hopped off the plank before moving to a few of the marines, checking on their wounds. Shaking his head, Ranma left him to it, heading out into the jungle.

 **OOOOOOO**

"Enel-sama, can we ask why you sent for us? If it was just to make certain we had taken Shura's death to heart you needn't have bothered," Ohm said, rubbing his head where a kick at near-lightning speed had hammered into his temple hurling him away. The fact the other two priests had been dealt with in the same manner did not make him any happier. "The fool's Mantra failed him, that will not happen to us."

"Hah, his death had more to do with underestimating his opponents than his Mantra failing him, but that is neither here nor there," Enel said, lounging once more in his throne after having had his fun with his priests. "I called you here to tell you that work has finished on the Arc."

All three priests sat up abruptly, and Satori asked, "You mean…"

"Hahaha! Yes, it is time for me to leave this cursed land and return to where I should always, as Kami, should have been, Fairy Vearth. But before that, we will need to play a game, a survival game. To see who among my followers and those others here in Upper Yard will survive to join me," Enel smiled thinly. "And that means it is time for you to stop playing holding back. You all have permission to play your games throughout the Upper Yard. Show the Shandians and Blue Sea dwellers why you stand above them. Even my enforcers will be involved in this survival game, in order to prove their worth in turn."

While Satori and Gedatsu were scowling at the very idea of sharing their kills with the enforcers, let alone having to fight them for a place on the Ark, Ohm was frowning. "The Blue Sea Dwellers will compete as well? I had thought so after meeting that pigtailed one but…"

"He is their captain, and yes, they will compete. He and a few others are here for adventure, but they are also here for gold," Enel said with a grin touching one of his anklets with his other foot making it jingle.

"Gold?" How do they know about something like that?" Gedatsu asked, scowling and once more trying to cross his arms with no success.

"Hahaha, a legend apparently, someone told them about Shandora, and they have come to find the city. Strange to think that, aye?" Enel said with a laugh. "Still, it will make certain that they play the survival game as hard as anyone. Greed is, after all, a powerful motivator whether a greed for more life or more gold it matters not."

He looked at his priests with a faint smile that did not reach his eyes. His smiles never reached his eyes. "So do be aware of them when you plan out the layout of your various territories. And remember, whoever survives the game that starts tomorrow will come with me to the true heaven, regardless of which side they are on. Remember that my priests."

 **OOOOOOO**

By the time Nami rejoined the others on the shore, a clearing had been set up between four giant trees. In doing so, they had excavated what looked like the ruins of a training area or a theatre of some kind. Alas for Robin, there were few hieroglyphs for her to study. Hina and Luffy had also created a large stack of wood to one side, and a giant bonfire set to the center of the ancient training area was already burning merrily, lighting the night, which had fully fallen while she was inside the ship.

Standing next to the fire, Sanji was in his element. He had brought out some of his cooking supplies and was watching a few of the Marines cooking several of the Sky Sharks over the fire pit, while he was creating some kind of stew to one side. The Marines were mostly looking at this preparation in confusion for the most part, although that confusion did not stand to Hina, who was talking quietly with Zoro, getting the lowdown on the fight that he'd had with Shura.

At first, Nami didn't see Luffy but knowing he could handle himself didn't really worry. She instead headed back inside and bringing out a blackboard the former marine who had owned the ship had kept aboard for some reason. By the time she had it set up Luffy was back, dragging behind him out of the jungle the carcass of a giant boar, larger than he was tall.

He tossed it over towards the fire pit and Sanji, shrugging his shoulders as everyone looked at him. "What, some people don't like fish."

There was some mixed laughter at that, as Sanji handed the carcass over to Zoro for skinning, but Luffy ignored that, turning around in a circle to look at the marines and his crew. "All right. I think it's time that we all start sharing information. First, Robin has a theory."

"At this point it is not so much a theory, as a yet to be proven without a doubt," Robin said dryly. She gestured around them, then patted the ground underneath her. "As I am hopeful most of you have noticed this land isn't made of the Island Cloud that the rest of Skypiea is made of. It is instead made of earth and dirt, which means its origins must be from the Blue Sea. We believe that it is the nation of Jaya, that a portion of that island shattered, and was carried up by the Knock Up Stream sometime in the past."

She paused for a moment letting the shouts of disbelief from the marines and even Sanji fade before going on, gesturing up into the giant trees above them. "There are problems with this theory of course. We have no way of understanding why the plants or animals up here have grown to such an extent, although that is truly a small issue. And of course, there is the issue of the locals, which Mont Blanc called the Shandians no longer being around."

"The city of gold!" Nami shouted, hurling her arms in the air, all of her earlier lingering irritation and self-guilt disappearing instantly. "Woohoo! Now that's the kind of adventure I like."

Luffy laughed, while the rest of the crew also chuckled and Chopper started to hand out plates of food, smirking as he danced across to present Nami with a special soup, the carrots cut out into hearts. "Your soup Nami-chwan."

She smiled and thanked him, but then passed the soup on to a Marine sitting next to her, pulling out the two maps she'd been working on earlier. "And actually," she said with a smirk of her own "Sanji-kun and I discovered much the same thing."

She held up the two maps, the one map they'd bought down on the island, and the one they had found in the wreckage of the scene of the ship that had nearly fallen on the _Resolve_. Rolling them up slightly, she then held them up, grinning as she looked around at everyone. "I found an old shack while that snake was trying to make a meal of us. It matches the one Mont Blanc lives in on Jaya. This means not only is this Jaya, but we now know the lay of the land."

The reformed map looked like a skull almost. The bit called Jaya still was the jaw and teeth of the skull, while Upper Yard was the rest of it, with a small bit of the skull missing to one side of the eye.

As Zoro and the marines leaned forward to stare at the completed map, Hina shook her head. "Hina astonished. I had seen your shock at finding that little shack, but we didn't exactly have time to wonder about it at the time. But are you telling me that an entire island was shattered by the Knock Up stream?"

"That's precisely what we're telling you," Robin said for Nami, as Nami put her maps down and took another bowl from Chopper, passing it back up behind her to two other Marines.

As she did, Sanji drooped. _Damn, two out of two has failed. Still, I have two more tries here!_

"I can even tell you where we are," Nami said, crossing her arms and looking around her challengingly. "Unless anyone wants to argue with the navigator, we're here," she said, marking on a large blackboard that Sanji had brought out at her request. "That means that the city of gold should be in that direction," she said, pointing in the proper direction with the help of a compass, then marking it out on the map.

"Moreover, the locals don't know what gold is. I had a talk with Conis about their currency here, and it isn't backed by gold or any kind of metal. It's backed simply by the current God saying that a Heat Dial, the most common kind of Dial, is worth a hundred Extol. Not gold. So all that gold might still be there!" the orange-haired navigator finished excitedly her eyes shaped like Belis.

"How do you know where we are? Hina incredulous," Hina asked, while Luffy laid back against a tree route, frowning.

Nami shrugged. "I started from where we were first, at the ziggurat here in this eye, then I tracked our movements in comparison to that starting point before we met up with the _Resolve_. Then I just kept going, although it was a lot easier with the _Resolve_ under me, and my writing equipment and compass."

Hina shook her head in you to astonishment. "I have never heard of a navigator with that kind of skill, able to keep track of their movement through a jungle without compass or map? Amazing."

"Yep," Luffy said with a grin, hopping over two Marines to land next to Luffy to Nami, ruffling her hair. "The navigator of the future Pirate King has to be that good after all."

She smacked his hand away angrily but couldn't help the pleased smile on her face as she moved on.

"However, just because we know that the gold is here, doesn't mean our problems are over, or we can just going take it. Or else all of you," he said gesturing towards Hina's marines, Sanji and Nami, "wouldn't be here."

As he watched Hina pass on the soup he'd made for her to another marine, Sanji sighed, but straightened up, took a deep drag of his cigarette, and blew it out. "We did run into problems Captain," he said formally. He went on to explain what had gone on with Conis, with Nami and Hina helping when it came to describing both the attack and how the locals had acted the entire time.

"We also ran into a priest of this God guy," Zoro said. "He was decent enough, had some fun tricks, this Impact Dial thing which was painful as hell, but he didn't have enough endurance or durability. The worst thing he had was this thing he called Mantra, but Luffy says it's the same thing as Kenbunshoku."

Luffy nodded. "Exactly. That ability was crazy, he was easily better than most anyone I've seen in person with Kenbunshoku. So don't get too bigheaded. Now it's time for me to tell you all what I ran into, which will," he said bowing grandly towards Robin answer at least the question about the Shandians for you."

Her eyebrows rose behind her reading glasses, and she pulled them off, looking at him quizzically. "I'm all ears."

"Shouldn't that be hands?" Luffy asked cheekily.

She rolled his eyes her eyes at him, barely visible in the light of the fire but even so, her body language made him get the message loud and clear. "Get on with it Captain," she said, deliberately using his title.

With a sigh, Luffy did so describing the fight he'd run into, the fact that three of the priests like Shura had been handling the Shandians quite handily, and the skills he'd seen them all show as he ran through the fight. That wasn't much, but it was enough to give them an idea of their combat ability.

"Wait a minute, are you telling me there's an actual swordsman among these priests?" Zoro said with a shark's grin, leaning forward as his mind latched onto the one important part about that.

"Yeah," Luffy said with a nod "and he's the most dangerous. Don't ask me how I know that though. It's something up here you know," Luffy said tapping his chest. "But the one thing those priests and this God you both mentioned have in common is Kenbunshoku, what the locals call Mantra."

"Yeah," Sanji said with a scowl. "The fact this Enel character was able to sense Conis warning us and launch that attack from a distance, that's not good."

"That means he's a Logia Devil Fruit user, lightning type," Hina said with a sigh. She looked at Luffy. "Hina knows that she is in no position to make demands, but if she had her way we would all be leaving now. You're strong but look me in the eyes and tell me you could take on a fleet Admiral. Because that is the kind of power we're dealing with here. Are you really going to fight a Logia-type for **gold**?"

"Well yes and no. Yes, I'm going to fight him for access to the city of gold sure, but the gold itself really doesn't interest me all that much."

"Bite your tongue!" Nami snapped. "It's always about gold!"

"No it's painful and I don't want to," Luffy barked back at Nami before turning to Hina and the rest of the group around the giant campfire. "But also for three more things. One, there's a fellow dreamer down below who really should know that what he's been dreaming about all this time has been right on the money. And two…Robin, since we know that the city is up here if we decided to leave what would you do?"

"I would leave the crew," Robin said promptly before she could think about it. "I would probably try to set up a rendezvous point with you all later, but I'm sorry, my desire to discover history outweighs everything else."

"That, unfortunately, doesn't surprise me," Luffy said dryly. "So like I said, we've got reasons for this."

At that, Robin breathed a sigh of relief, only now realizing how that could have been taken considering their relationship. But Luffy had seemingly taken it in stride. He simply smiled at her for a second before he looked around at everyone.

"Ha! What Luffy isn't telling you is that our captain has a bit of a saving people thing despite being a pirate," Makino said dryly, handing Luffy a bowl of soup and sitting down next to him starting to eat her own. "Sometimes I think his dream includes being a hero, and I can tell that this Enel's tyranny has begun to anger him."

Luffy looked down at the soup in his lap sheepishly. "She's not wrong," he muttered.

That caused Hina to smile slightly, having already heard that Luffy had fought Crocodile for simple friendship's sake. It was somewhat inspiring. But in this case, she had to shake her head. The idea of looking for a Logia-type in order to fight him, that was madness, even if Luffy knew Busoshoku. But she knew her arguments wouldn't matter, given how weak her own position was. That angered her, but what was worse was she had to make her position even worse now in order to get her men some help. _Time enough to try to talk him out of seeking out Enel later, my men come first._

That thought was galling and when she spoke next, each word came out as if they caused her physical pain. While Hina might actually be coming to like these pirates, she didn't like being beholden to them, **at all**. Let alone putting herself more in their debt, especially when they all should be running away as fast as possible. "There is a problem, however. My crew is in a very bad way in terms of both wounded and weapons. Whatever else, I must… request… sanctuary for my wounded aboard your ship."

Luffy leaned back at that, taking another bite of soup to give himself time to answer. "Chopper, what's the prognosis of the marines?"

Blinking Chopper looked surprised at being consulted before once more remembering that yes, he was the doctor on this crew. "Um, seven have severe wounds, two more are in no further danger, but I had to amputate their legs," he said sadly, shaking his head. "The others said they got hit by flying shrapnel which nearly ripped the limbs off, by the time I got to them despite Mr. Dotur's best efforts there was nothing I could do about them."

Mr. Dotur was an older marine, the oldest besides Hina's sergeant, who acted as the crew's sawbones. He was a barely trained nurse, let alone a doctor, and had been in utter awe at Chopper's skills. He spoke up now, saying, "We would have lost all the wounded without your help Chopper, so don't even think it's your fault."

"Baka, your praise doesn't make me happy at all, Baka!" Chopper shouted, holding his soup bowl in front of his smiling face.

Luffy let him get over his happiness for a moment before he prodded, "You were saying Chopper?"

"Oh, um, right. Four more have broken limbs or ribs, ten have various abrasions, three concussions, but they were able to walk along with the others, so not serious but they should still take it easy. Of the ones with abrasions, I would want to have seven of them on light duty."

"So all told, how many wounded should stay on the _Resolve_?" Luffy asked, before looking over at Hina. "And who would you leave in charge, if you're not going to stay with them?"

Luffy was of two minds on that point. He trusted Hina, but having her, and possibly a large majority of her crew on the ship was not something he wanted. That would probably be way too much temptation, if not to just take the ship and run, then to at least start snooping around. And while Luffy didn't care so much about the gold – he fully intended to quadruple the amount of gold they had right now with their current adventure - the weapons and books from the Rainbow Mist were far more important.

At that thought, he suddenly grinned internally. "And if you do that, how are you going to get your share of the gold?"

"What?" Hina asked, frowning at the non-sequitur.

"Well, you don't have a ship. And you're kind of living off our largesse right? But if you had money of your own you could both pay us back, and then pay for the locals to build you a ship, if not here then somewhere down on the Blue Sea," Luffy said with a guileless look on his face.

"Bah, that's just like a freaking pirate, wanting to extort money out of us when we've already reached a truce!" Fullbody howled, followed by many of the other marines, even some of the wounded who had been taken off the ship by their fellows.

Hina ignored them staring at Luffy hard, trying to figure out his angle, but while Hina could see that despite knowing Luffy had some other reason to suggest this, he did have a good point. "Hmm, very well, Hina agrees. Hina will leave Dotur and Sergeant Crenley in charge. Hina and her able-bodied crewmen will go with the group which will seek out the city of gold." She then smirked, pulling her cigarette out of her mouth and setting it aside for the moment as she raised her soup bowl. "And actually, if we're going to go with the idea of me paying off this debt of ours, then there is no problem with us being further in your debt."

She paused to take a sip of the soup, smiling over at Sanji in approval causing the cook to start dancing in place then turned her attention back to Luffy. "You see, we lost much of our weapons in the crash, and what few weapons we had after landing in Skypiea most of my marines have since lost during the battle against the giant snake. If you could supply us with weapons not only would that put us more in your debt after this is over, but my marines would also be more useful"

"Pretty darn cheeky of ya to ask for weapons on top of everything else, but I can't deny you've got a point." _Although honestly, I doubt the marines would be worth much of anything in a fight even if all of 'em were armed to the teeth._ Keeping that thought to himself, Luffy looked at Makino. "Makino?"

Makino sighed shaking her head. "We've got enough pistols and maybe rifles to going around the marines, but we don't have enough powder or musket balls for them all. We've got swords aplenty though, thanks to Zoro bringing so many along initially from East Blue. We can arm them, Captain, not for the long term, but we can do it."

"Okay, then that's what we'll do tomorrow. You and Zoro can lay out their weapons for 'em in the morning. And…" Luffy said after a moment's thought looking over at Nami, "I think I'll give you the Impact Dial Nami."

"Wait a minute! Isn't that the thing that can hurt the user when you discharge it? I don't want anything like that!" Nami objected.

"You don't want an ace in the hole?" Luffy asked archly.

At that, Nami grimaced but slowly nodded. He did have a point after all. _And I suppose I should really start trying to think about more than treasure and running now._

Smiling at that, Luffy took a moment to dig into the soup, then paused blinking and pulling out a heart-shaped carrot. "Sanji," he said slowly "while I appreciate the work ya put into this, I'm afraid there are just some lines you don't want to cross with me okay? I might turn into a girl but…"

"Freaking dammit! That was not meant for you, you shitty Captain!" Sanji shouted, hurling his hands up into the air. "Four for four, not one of my Love Soups worked!" he started to sob, biting at his shirt.

All four of the normal women looked at one another, then around and realized that several of the people around them were eating soup that had carrots and other vegetables carved out into hearts. Nami instantly began to laugh, shaking her head while Hina chuckled around her cigarette, and Makino and Robin both rolled their eyes. "Never change Sanji."

"Anyway, ignoring that," Luffy said shaking his head and gathering her attention back to him. "I think we need someone local to answer some questions about what's been going on here, get a better idea of what we're going to be getting into."

"We're going to get into it whatever because Makino's right, I don't like what this God guy tried to do to Conis, and I take it personally when someone tries to attack my crew," he said with a scowl. "But, forewarned is forearmed and all that rot." He held up the whistle that the Knight of the Sky had given them, dangling it between two fingers.

"Now wait a minute I disagree with that! That guy was strong, and he seems to know a lot about sky combat. We should wait to call him in for when we're in real trouble. And when I say we, I mean me and Chopper and maybe Makino!"

Chopper seconded her, hopping up and down. "I want to blow it! I'm the weakest here, I need the protection!"

"You might be the weakest for now, but that's not going to last Chopper, trust me on that one. You've already started to show signs of Geppo, and after that, it's a hop skip and a jump to several of the other techniques," Luffy said.

Hina blinked at that, staring down the little creature, and making a note of that for later. Considering that even Fullbody wasn't able to use any of the Rokushiki, which was a dangerous precedent. A entire crew able to use at least a few of the Rokushiki? That wasn't good at all. _Although right now it is actually kind of heartening._

Even Makino spoke up in concern about using the whistle now. "I don't see the need for information as being that important right now Luffy, it isn't as if either side of this conflict has shown us anything but antipathy, so why should it matter? We also already know about this God fellow's power, so getting more information about what has been going on isn't really important. Not in comparison to being able to call in an ally who can fight at least as well as the rest of the locals."

At this united front, Luffy sighed. "Fine, I guess you're right. Nothing he could tell us would change our plans. But before you three start arguing you're all going to be staying together anyway, along with at least me, Zoro or Sanji."

"And I'm not?" Robin asked quizzically.

Luffy cocked an eyebrow at her. "Would you be willing to stay onboard the ship while the rest of went off to explore the jungle and find the city of gold?" The shake of her head was enough to answer to that, and he nodded. "Well, there you are then."

"So tomorrow, we'll split up, one group to stay on the _Resolve_ , and move the ship into position for a quick getaway back to Angel Island and then down to the White Sea. The other group will search out the ancient city, while the third will work with them until they find the city, then will split off to search for this Enel guy and punch his face in."

"That third group will just be me, really," Luffy said with a grin, cracking his knuckles. I'm looking forward to the challenge really."

"And to toppling another tyrant," Makino said with a giggle.

"'Another' tyrant?" Hina asked.

"This'll be my third," Luffy said with a nod. "Arlong, that aho from the Drum Kingdom, and now Enel. Maybe even fourth if you count Croc."

That caused Hina's one of Hina's eyebrows to rise in surprise. While she had heard about Crocodile and why Luffy had fought him, she hadn't heard about Arlong, let alone his defeat, to say nothing of pirates begin involved in the change in government in Drum kingdom.

"So the group to stay on the _Resolve_ will be Nami, Chopper, Makino, all of the wounded Marines and whoever else Hina wants to leave behind," Luffy went on, nodding to Hina.

Scowling around her cigarette, Hina nodded back. "Fine! But if this Enel-aho kills you, I hope I have time to tell your corpse I told you so before he kills Hina." Then she turned to look at her marines. "Hina agrees," she said formally. "Hina will leave five of the able-bodied and bring along Lieutenant Fullbody and six more of her uninjured marines with her. The others will help to protect the _Resolve_ and the wounded."

All of them twitched at that, but they all also understood that right now, they were all more of a liability to their captain than anything else. They didn't like it, but they could understand her decision.

"And… Zoro, you'll stay too," Luffy finished. He held up a hand as his first mate made to object. "No, I know you want to come with us to search out that one priest who uses a sword, but we won't be looking for him. If anything goes well, we'll come back to the ship laden with gold and with the God's head kicked in. You can go looking for him then."

"With a minder with him so he doesn't get lost," Sanji quipped.

"Eh, what was that, curly brows? Was that 'yes Mister Zoro, I want to get my head sliced off'?" Zoro growled.

"Enough," Luffy said, flinging his spoon at Zoro's forehead, smacking him back onto his rear before the spoon ricocheted up and then off a branch back to his hand. "You do have a bad sense of direction, deal with it. And I want my strongest crewman on the ship protecting the rest of the crew."

As Sanji growled at that Zoro smirked at the admission Luffy was about to continue speaking when his stomach rumbled at him, sounding like an angry beast for a moment. Indeed it was so loud everyone in the clearing paused in shock. "Ah, right," Luffy said. "Sorry, have to feed the beast for a moment."

"Wait, that wasn't just your stomach!" Chopper said, turning rapidly towards the forest around them. A series of howls broke the sudden silence the young Zoan's words evoked, and everyone else capable also quickly turned around to stare as more than a hundred white-furred wolves stalked out of the forest all around them.

Luffy scowled at them, cracking his knuckles while Zoro Hina and the others all stood up, and Nami flinched. "Gah, see, we should all have stayed on the ship!"

One of the wolves padded forward and growled angrily at them.

"Chopper, translation please?" Luffy asked, relaxing slightly since the wolves hadn't instantly attacked.

Chopper nodded, and moved over towards the wolf, standing next to him. As he spoke, his face once more contorted, this time into something like a tough-guy look, the sort of sneer and cockiness a gang member might have used on an outsider. Once his face was in the proper shape Chopper glared at everyone else not noticing the grins that spread on the Marines' faces at his accent, or Makino giggling behind one hand.

"Hey, hey humans, what the heck are you doing here! This is our territory and here you go making merry, how are you going to pay for this huuhh!?"

At the word pay, Nami crossed the intervening distance, and slammed a fist down on top of the wolf's head, shouting angrily, "You're not getting in a single Beli of our treasure!"

The leader of the wolves slumped, and Choppers shouted in terror, "Nami, why!?"

Luffy laughed, shaking his head. _Note to self, Nami's courage comes out much more easily when it has to do with protecting her gold. Figure out a way to bring out that courage more normally somehow._

The rest of the giant pack of wolves growled angrily, moving towards the humans and the rest of the pirates and Marines started to get ready for a fight, but it didn't happen. The leader of the wolves shouted out angrily, with Chopper still translating next to him. "Stop!" the wolf leader pushed himself upright, shaking his head. "None of you would be able to fight her anyway."

"Just her oy," Luffy muttered, with Makino shushing him from where she was still sitting beside him.

The wolf looked up at Nami, smirking slightly. "That was a good punch sister. All right, if you're going to have a party in our territory, then do you have enough food for us?"

Luffy looked over at Sanji, who nodded, gesturing to the boar that Luffy had brought in earlier. "With that thing added to our five Sky Sharks and the soup we surely do."

"In that case, let's party!" the wolf howled out, causing his fellows to stamp their front feet and set up a series of howls. "Bring on the booze!" he shouted out next, answered by even more howls of delight from his pack.

"Really?" Luffy asked blinking and looking at Chopper incredulously, while Zoro and Hina grinned and Sanji and Nami both looked interested. "He really said 'bring on the booze'?"

"That's what it translates to!" Chopper shot back, sounding offended at being questioned on his translation.

Luffy shrugged, and the wolves moved into the crowd, eagerly sniffing out towards the boars as Sanji quickly began to roast it next to the already turning Sky Sharks. At the same time, others disappeared into the forest, coming back dragging large gourds. Where the booze inside the gourds came from Luffy wasn't entirely sure, but soon Luffy, Hina, and the others all had poured some into their saucers and were sipping from it.

The head wolf moved over to sit in front of Nami, apparently believing she was the leader of this group of humans. Luffy didn't care enough to correct that assumption and watched as the wolf sat on its haunches and then used its front paws to pick up a saucer, which, like the booze, had been brought out from somewhere by his pack. "With this exchange of food and booze, we welcome you into our territory for the time being. Let's Party!"

Across from him Nami a consummate actor simply nodded and took up the saucer in front of her, gulping down her own portion as she saw the wolf doing the same. Then her eyes widened in unfeigned astonishment. "It's good! What is this?" she asked, draining her saucer and holding it out for more.

The wolf that it handed it to her chuckled, and Luffy blinked too, as he took a small sip before gasping in shock as the hit of liquor hit his stomach. _Holy shit that stuff is strong. And Nami was drinking this like water? What is her liver made of?_ It tasted like fruit punch, and really good fruit punch too, with a heavy emphasis on cherries and pineapples, but it kicked like a damn mule. Shaking his head, Luffy set his saucer down, intent on turning back to his soup.

"What's the matter," the chieftain of the wolves shouted as he caught sight of that, barking out a laugh, that Chopper translated. "Can't hold your drink? What kind of male are you?"

"Oh God," Makino said from beside Luffy reaching out with a restraining hand. "Luffy, no!"

But she couldn't stop Luffy from grabbing up his saucer and draining it as he glared at the wolf. "T, there," Luffy stuttered a second later, his head moving from side to side woozily. "Yah happy now!?"

"Another!" the wolf shouted, laughing as others paired off, and the meeting around the fireplace started to descend into more of a party atmosphere than anything else. This was exacerbated as the wolves started to play bongos. It was easily the weirdest thing anyone had ever seen. It was easily the funniest sight Luffy and the crew had experienced since leaving Alabasta. And soon everyone, even Robin and Makino were drinking.

"Oy, woman!" Zoro shouted, looking at Hina, who was sitting close by. "You marines, any of you able to hold your drink? Or do you all drink milk and water instead? Would explain why most of you are so weak."

Hina rocked an eyebrow and finished her cigarette before putting it down once more and grabbing up a saucer the wolves had passed around. "I think I will make you eat your words. Challenge accepted." Fullbody and two more of her marines, along with Zoro joined her. Nami didn't join them, already drinking with a few of the wolves, as Makino and Chopper started to dance with the wolves, with Sanji joining them.

While normally Luffy would not have been the drinking type, the fruit punch of the wolves was just too darn tasty, and every time he turned around, there was a marine or wolf asking him to have a drink with them. He quickly started to get into the party, dancing around with the wolves and marines. He saw Robin had curled up with a few of the wolves and was reading them something or other from her book while drinking as well and bobbing her head to the music.

"Crap!" Sanji suddenly shouted his voice coming through the tumult. "We're running out of fish and meat!"

"I'll get it," Luffy said with a drunk laugh. Whatever else, Luffy had no tolerance for liquor in this world or the last and he weaved drunkenly through the party then leaping into the water. The wolves, a few of whom were still sober enough to be a little miffed at the meat running out, stared. Then they stared some more as four Sky Sharks were flung out of the water to land in neat rows.

"Yoho, that's my captain!" Sanji shouted, rushing between them, his hands flashing. Faster than even Zoro could have done it, the fish were made into fillets and then skewered before placed near the fire, where he began to season them.

A second later Luffy was back out of the water, carrying two more sharks under her arms and a third was actually held in her jaw, where she had chomped down on it right behind the head. She spat it out and the wolves howled in amazed respect, their leader shouting, "Hah, there's a one who could be a wolf!" Any confusion about Luffy's sex change didn't seem to matter to the wolves at all, especially since she brought more fish.

Ranma grinned and then eagerly drank more of the juice as it was handed to her. When she finished it she moved over to the wolves banging on their bongos, then grabbed one and slowly started him in on a new beat, which the others quickly began to pick up. Then to the astonishment of everyone but Makino, Luffy began to sing. "Won't see us comin', out the door before you even blink. Somethin' so cold-blooded, with a deep killer instinct…" **{"Wolves" by Sam Tinnesz ft. Silverberg}**

She grabbed a wolf and turned his head to hers staring into the wolf's eyes as she went on. "Don't look us right in the face, it's like starin' at a burnin' sun. Got teeth like razor blades and you know that we're out for blood!"

The wolves howled, and Ranma turned away, tossing that wolf to one side as she leaped forward on all fours, singing out, "Better run, better run, 'cause here it comes, here it comes. Better run, better run, when the wolves come out to play!"

At that, all the wolves howled and the dancing Congo line started to move even faster. Hina and the marines were all shouting and cheering while the Straw Hats were whooping in delight at this odd, but immensely fun aspect of their captain's personality. Who would have ever thought Luffy would be able to sing in his female form? And that she would be so good at it? While being drunk, no less.

Luffy sang two more songs, prancing and dancing around the fireplace for a time until she was a little too dizzy to continue. As Luffy bowed out of her latest song, she sat down then fell backward off her perch on a tree root, giggling as she did, only noticing with a tiny portion of her brain that doing so had put her sort of on the outskirts of the party for the first time. She propped herself up to peer over the tree root at the ongoing party.

Everyone's attention had shifted away from her back to the Congo line of wolves, Chopper, Makino, Sanji, and various marines. A few of the other wolves had moved away from the line and with their pack mates continuing to play percussion in the background they began to exchange yips and barks, actually creating a sound that it was as if they were singing. Even Nami, Hina and Zoro looked up from their various drinking contests to cheer this on.

Luffy grinned woozily and was about to pull herself up and over the root to join the dance when she felt someone grab her arm. She turned lazily to find Robin on her knees to one side of her, reaching forward with one arm, the other supporting her upper body. It was a surprisingly seductive look, with her hair falling down, her own face a little flush from the drink. "Come on," the other woman whispered. "Let's head away from the party a bit."

"Forrr wwhyyyy..," Luffy said, slurring her words.

In reaction, Robin leaned forward and kissed her. The shorter woman stiffened for just a second, but then her lips melted against Robin's, the shorter girl whimpering a bit as she did. Neither girl deepened the kiss and it ended quickly with Robin backing away, looking around to make certain no one had seen them. Then she moved off, still on all fours for a time before she was well away from the glow of the bonfire. She straightened up then, a mere silhouette in the dark as she looked back at Ranma.

Ranma followed, also crawling for a time before racing after the other woman as she wound her way through the trees, putting several dozen between them and the fire. There Robin turned only to find Luffy leaning up into her, their breasts pressing against one another, the shorter girls' lips seeking her own.

 **{Lemon start}**

Both of them were slightly drunk, but the singing and the dancing had burned through a bit of the alcohol for Luffy, so she was fully cognizant of what they were doing. And to say she had no problems with it whatsoever was, to put it mildly. If Robin was willing to initiate things with her girl form then she was definitely going to go along with it.

A few seconds into the kiss, Robin opened her mouth slightly and Ranma's tongue slid into her mouth, licking and twining around her own. Luffy's hands soon moved between them and began to squeeze Robin's large breasts. As Luffy had known they would be they were more than a handful, filling her hands to bursting and then some, but Luffy could feel the hard nubs of her nipples through her shirt, realizing with a start that she had discarded her bra somewhere. And when Robin groaned, humping against her, pulling back from their kiss to release a moan, Ranma learned something else: Robin's chest was incredibly sensitive.

Robin refused to be a passive participant, however. Closing her eyes, she tried to concentrate through the sensations to use her Devil Fruit power. Luckily, this wasn't the first time she had used her powers like this, so she could do so. It remained to be seen how Luffy reacted though.

Two hands appeared on Luffy's legs and reached up, squeezing Luffy's rear, causing her to squeak, before she started to moan, shuddering in place at the altogether new sensations. This allowed Robin to start to dominate the kiss for a bit, twisting around until Luffy was against the side of the tree. She slowly pulled Luffy's shirt up out of her pants, then tugged at it once, indicating she wanted to pull it further up. Luffy obligingly broke the kiss and put her hands above her head, letting the older woman pull the shirt up over her head.

She then leaned up again and pulled Robin down into a kiss, whose depth took Robin breath away as Ranma threaded her fingers through Robin's dark hair. Then it was Robins turn to be turned and pinned once more against the tree, as Luffy very, very thoroughly made out with her mouth. It was as if Luffy was trying to memorize every inch of her mouth and was succeeding.

Then Luffy pulled away, and Robin looked down feeling a surprising amount of air on her skin. _How did she get my shirt off?_ she thought through her lust and drink addled brain, surprised to find her shirt entirely off, and even hanging from a nearby branch. _How…. in the world…_

While Robing was pondering how Luffy had stolen her shirt off her – just because he wasn't a perv didn't mean Ranma had never learned anything from Happosai - Luffy laid her head against the taller Robin's collarbone staring down at her breasts, just taking in the view, what could be seen in the nighttime of the jungle. Despite the bikini she had worn back in Mock Town, this was the first time that Luffy had seen Robin's breasts unfettered like this and it was a magnificent sight. They looked to be tanned just as much as the rest of her, a light coffee color. But surprisingly Robin's nipples looked to be dark red, a darker red than Luffy's hair, and large too, just a little bit larger for her breasts than Luffy knew her own to be, although Luffy couldn't be sure of the color.

Raising both her hands, Luffy slowly started to heft and play with Robin's breasts as he stared down into her cleavage. Then Luffy kissed her collarbone, feeling and making a note of Robin's jolt of pleasure and then down into that cleavage, turning her eyes upwards to stare up into Robin's face as she did. Robin stared down at her, her eyes slowly going half-lidded as her breath started coming in gasps.

It might have been the alcohol, but her body was really being revved up by what Luffy was doing to her, and she had to wonder how Luffy had gotten so good at this. _Perhaps he had some self-exploration to go by, or perhaps he, er, she, might have some hidden books, much like myself Makino, and Sanji_.

That didn't mean though, that Robin didn't want to return the favor. While her real hands began to play with Luffy's hair urging Luffy's mouth towards her nipples she somehow was still able to concentrate on her power, and several hands began to appear from the tree behind her and from lower down her own body reaching for Luffy.

The redhead squeaked as she found not two, but four hands beginning to work at her own bare breasts. Two of them started to tweak her nipples, rolling them in a way that Robin knew that she enjoyed when she was… relieving some tension. The others simply squeezed, kneaded and touched. Her touches were slow, almost methodical, yet sure and certain, whereas Luffy's attentions on Robin were more explorative, trying to figure out what felt good.

But those hands disappeared as Robin's concentration finally broke when Luffy leaned further down and kissed her on her nipple. Robin's mind blanked for a moment and she let out a louder moan than before, pulling her hands away from Luffy's head to cover her mouth. "MMMMMM!"

But her pleasure was just beginning. Luffy started to play with the nipple in her mouth, sucking, then licking. She then ran her teeth over it, causing Robin to actually buck off the tree one leg going around Luffy's back, pulling her closer. Luffy didn't bite any harder though, just pulling back lightly to kiss, lick and let her teeth run over Robin's other nipple before moving down to kiss her navel, Luffy's hands working at the drawstrings of Robin's shorts.

Robin had a moment to think if she really wanted this to go that far so soon, then Luffy had her shorts down, and was leaning in, putting her head between Robin's legs. Robin shaved, and there was a bare tuft of hair at the top of her vagina, which was pulsing, opening like a flower in full bloom. It had large petals to either side of her surprisingly small slit, which was currently weeping. When Luffy blew on it, Robin giggled slightly, putting her hands on Luffy's head. Honestly, she wasn't expecting much from this, yes, a man (turned woman) could be magnificent at playing with a woman's breasts that was something almost built-in to a man's mind. But this? Eating out a woman was a science, something you needed to experiment with, to truly research, before you could expect to do well at it. _Still, Luffy does seem able to take direction well._ "Well captain, what are you waiting for?"

Her blue eyes gleaming with some kind of inner fire, Luffy looked up at the other woman, before she slowly very deliberately leaned in, and began to in touch and lick at Robin's most private area. And for the second time that night Robin gasped, her eyes widening as Luffy went to work on her. While Luffy was an amateur at this, he was also an expert at reading the body language of an opponent, and he had somehow turned that knowledge to this new task. Like with Robin's nipples and collarbone, every time Robin jolted at his touch, Luffy made a note of it and came back to that point or type of touch a second later, first making certain the jolt wasn't a fluke and then seeing if he could heighten the sensation further.

In this manner, she first raked her fingers up and around Robin's vagina, then rubbed her thumb up and down the side of Robin's slit, first one side, then to the other, before coming down and making a line again with her tongue. Plunging the tip of her tongue in lightly, she flicked it back out and upwards, to the little hood over her vagina, where she nipped at it with her teeth. Soon this continued repetition caused Robin to scream into her hands as she came for the first time by someone going down on her.

For a few seconds, she just laid against the tree, shivering in smaller aftershocks as she stared down in awe at Luffy who grinned up at her, before letting her tongue lick Robin's slit again from top to bottom. She then pulled back, licking her lips. "Yum, sweet."

"Mmm, Luffy, you are definitely a man, or woman, of many surprising talents." Her own pride as a woman now on the line Robin reached down and pulled Luffy up into a deep kiss before twisting them both around, as she conjured more hands. "My turn now."

"Gleep!" Luffy whimpered, actually sounding embarrassed now, and she pushed Robin away, shaking her head. "No, none of that, I, I'm not ready for that kind of thing in this form. Playing, um, y'know, up top is one thing, but not down there. Please?"

Looking into her lover's slightly panicky expression, Robin nodded, then leaned in, kissing Luffy again. "Then we'll have to wait a few minutes." With that she turned her head to one side, laying it on Luffy's shoulder as she looked away, concentrating on her Devil Fruit power once more. The two of them exchanged a few kisses before a few hands appeared in a line, passing along a heated teacup. Robin had set her coffee bowl near the fire earlier, only to never get a chance to make any coffee thanks to the wolves introducing them to their incredibly alcoholic drink. A second later Luffy was male again, causing Robin to slide down his wet chest for a second before Luffy leaned down, kissing her again.

His mouth felt differently from one form to the next, Robin realized. His lips were thinner, firmer. But the rest was just the same, and Robin started to moan and hump against Luffy as he teased her mouth with his tongue, before, as she opened her mouth, darting inside. The two began another intense make-out session, but Robin was still able to concentrate enough to use her powers, first dissipating the hands that had brought the teacup and then conjure more around Luffy's legs.

Those hands reached into Luffy's britches, finding his cock already standing at attention. Despite having had an idea of its size, Robin gasped as first one of her conjured hands, then the other gripped around the shaft and still there was room up top for the bulbous head. She began to work that with one of her real hands while Luffy kissed her hard, and reached down, playing with her still wet slit with his fingers. Those fingers began to repeat the same gestures that had earlier driven her wild.

But while Robin had already orgasmed once and was only slowly building up to a second peak, this was Luffy's first real sexual experience, despite two lifetimes worth, and he hadn't yet. Soon his breath started to come ragged in his chest, and Robin knew for a fact he would be cumming soon. She grinned, pulled back from the kiss to move to his ear and whisper, "Don't fight it Luffy, you know you don't want to, give it to me! Give it to me!"

"N, not without you!" Luffy wasn't about to give up, and as he spoke he pulled back slightly, before reaching up with one hand to start playing with Robin's nipples, causing her to yelp, and bite into his shoulder. The shoulder didn't give much, so it didn't actually muffle her noises, and she was forced to once more cover her mouth with one of her hands leaning into Luffy's shoulder and gasping and panting into her hand.

It became almost a competition between them, which could make the other come. Even with her nipples added into the equation, it was one that Robin would have won if not for Luffy pulling out one final trick as he felt himself about to go over the edge. The fingers, which had been playing with her pussy, suddenly pushed into her and then started to move so fast they were a blur to Robin's suddenly widening gaze. She bucked squirmed and spasmed against him, using both hands once more to hold in her moans while her conjured hands-on Luffy's cock moved even faster, somehow still there despite her mind simply going away as she was suddenly thrust over her own finish.

Thankfully for Robin's pride as a woman that was enough to set Luffy off. Grunting into Robin's hair, he came, covering her conjured hands in a tumult of viscous cum, his cock pulsing and firing off like a cannon soaking his pants through.

As she came down from her orgasm, Robin's eyes fluttered, and she shook herself, watching as her hands turned into petals, depositing still more of Luffy's semen into his pants. _Those will probably never be the same again after this._ Her own panties were almost as soaked as if she'd had them in the wash, and she found herself glad that Luffy had removed her shorts earlier. She rather liked those shorts and had felt they would be perfect for tomorrow's exploration.

 **End Lemon**

For a moment, the two of them simply looked at one another, the emotions of what they had just shared together passing through them. That was the correct word, what they had shared, rather than what they had done to one another.

But, it'd been a long day for both of them. Even Luffy, who had had far more to drink than Robin on top of his earlier training in Kenbunshoku, was beginning to feel his eyes slowly start to droop. And sexual endurance was very a very different thing than physical endurance. It could make that leap very easily, but it had yet to do so. And Robin too was feeling the effects of two monstrous orgasms and a whole lot of alcohol on top of a very long, eventful day.

"Stay with me," Robin said, the words bursting out of her before her better sense, the frame of mind that had kept her alive and with a still working heart after so long among pirates, could rear its head.

Luffy's eyes widened and she hastened on, "I, I don't mean that we should take this to the next level," she said, gesturing down at their nether regions, both of whom were soaked, obvious even in the dim light of the moon through the trees. "But, but I think I'd like you beside me tonight."

Luffy nodded and pulled Robin away from the tree into a hug. "Sure, but not here." With that, he lifted Robin into a princess carry and leaped straight up, landing on a tree branch above them. There was a moment there where his legs almost gave out on the landing, but Luffy persevered, racing through the trees, circling around the campsite and the party that was only just starting to die down as the partygoers fell into drunken stupors. He then carried Robin onto the ship, leaping out and then balancing on a mat's topsail gallant before hopping into the crow's nest.

Once sitting inside the crow's next he stretched out, putting his back and head against the side of it, with Robin leaning into his chest. Once settled though, she crossed her arms, concentrating, and soon a line of hands were passing up a blanket and pillows. The two of them shifted for a time, never moving away from one another as they got situated with a few pillows under them and behind Ranma's back before lying back down.

This was followed by a few moments of silence as they listened to one another's heartbeat, then Luffy asked, "Are you going to regret it, you think?" Luffy asked. The last of the alcohol had long since burned out of his system, leaving him tired but sober and wondering if this had been a mistake. _After all, we've only just started dating. I mean it hasn't even been what, three days since we got together in Mock Town?_ _Fuck, but even for my life it's been a little eventful since then._

"Probably not," Robin said with a shake of her head. "I would regret it if we went further, but this was, this was more therapeutic than anything else. Certainly did away with much of my tension. And I enjoyed it."

"Well that's good," Luffy quipped. I would've hated to hear that you hadn't enjoyed it."

Robin chuckled shaking her head. "Oh, there's no chance of that's. You certainly caught on quickly. I am looking forward to seeing if that trend continues," she said with a giggle that was pure wickedness as she leaned up and kissed him. They kissed for a time, but neither was in the mood to start back up again and by an unspoken consent of a leaned away from one another, with Robin leaning her head on to Luffy's shoulder, both of their eyes slowly starting to close.

Neither participant in this little event realized that they had been watched. Hina and Nami had both noticed that the two of them were gone, Hina right off the bat, and then Nami when she saw Robin's hands. Both of them had, if for very different reasons, decided to follow the two lovers. But neither of them had seen one another, having come from different parts of the camp. That, and Hina was monstrously drunk by the point the two had disappeared thanks to Zoro's challenge.

Nami had been playing around with the wolves and hadn't joined in on the challenge despite having drunk even more. Now she stared at the two lovers, as they cuddled together, her hands clenching and unclenching. _Dammit! I really did miss the boat, didn't I? And I'm not even certain I could've, could've brought myself to be_ _that aggressive with Luffy's female form anyway._ That was a salve on her wounded pride and crushed heart and Nami knew it and it didn't last for very long as she turned away, shaking her head. _Dammit, that could've been me! That seriously could have been me. If not for my own freaking pride!_

Then Nami's eyes narrowing dangerously. _But just because they're together doesn't mean that I can't be with Luffy either!_ she thought. _We're pirates. Stealing things is what we're supposed to do after all. And even if I can't steal Luffy back from Robin, who cares about normal morality anyway? I'd rather have a piece of the pie than go hungry after all._

For her part, Hina shuddered, pulling one of her own hands out of her pants. _Damn!_ _That was easily the most erotic thing I've ever seen in person._ Oh, Hina had a few lovers in the past. Smoker and Hina had engaged in a long-term relationship when they were both at the Marine Academy, and Smoker had both the physical requirements and a surprising amount of sensitivity to be an excellent lover. But there had been something amazing about watching those two women make out, which was something she would've never thought she'd prefer. Despite that, what happened after Luffy had been turned back into a guy had been even better in her opinion. _Heh, well, this was an interesting night to be sure._

On wobbly legs Hina moved back to the tent, shaking her head and wondering what the morrow would bring.

 **End Chapter**

* * *

Since it's never stated in canon when Drake breaks off from the marines or gains his Zoan type Devil Fruit, I had him run into Buggy right before that would have occurred. That's two Supernovas down now, but with Sanji at least ready to jump into that kind of discussion. And so could Buggy too, although I doubt he could be called a rookie. And yes, I know about the latest revelations there. Still, that was the first of the UBA – Usopp, Buggy, and Alvida - Adventures. And before anyone asks, I have several reasons for doing so…hohohohohohoh…


End file.
